


Phantasms of Reality

by JBSteele



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:01:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28263582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JBSteele/pseuds/JBSteele
Summary: AU Potterverse story.Something's wrong. Harry and Hermione find themselves in a place that should be familiar, but there are too many things that don't ring true to what they think they know. Can they figure out what to do and who can they trust while they do it? More importantly, can they escape whole and come to terms with new information and the changes it brings?{-- This work is on hiatus until Potters Echoes gets completed --}
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 15
Kudos: 8





	1. Author's Foreword

First: I do not own Harry Potter. He and his companions, locations, and so on belong to J. K. Rowling. I’m just playing in the sandbox.

Second: This will be an AU tale using the Harry Potter characters, but not strictly timeline-compliant, canon-compliant, or possibly even fanon-compliant. In fact, compliance is probably not even close to the best word to use. To be frank, it’s a story going how I want to see ‘a Harry Potter story’ going. My hopes are that it will entertain you, my dear reader, as much as it entertains me.

In this story, HP and the gang are not a specified age or at a particular year level. Let’s set the bar at ‘a year or so above age of consent’ and go from there. Some characters might just be out of character as book and movie lovers (including me) know them, but that’s part of the ride. Buckle up.

Certain fanfiction tropes will possibly be used. Which? Don’t know. Part of the journey may be the end, but in this case it’s the discovery that make up the journey.

Certain ships will very possibly be used. Fair warning, I’m an equal-opportunity fan of Harmony fics and Dramione fics. And no, not together. That would be for a niche audience. Not to mention a little confusing to write.

Certain fun will be had, certain problems will be also be had. Same for laughter and tears.

Certain characters will be alive that in-canon are dead and possibly vice-versa.

Things will happen. One last piece of advice for those embarking on this journey with me – and especially for poor Harry for what’s about to come. What advice is that, you say? It’s very simple, you know.

_Constant vigilance._


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter One_

  
  


Harry Potter was calm.

Well, as calm as his life could be at any given moment. For now there were no mad wizards trying to kill him, rogue bludgers trying to flatten him, or fangirls trying to ensnare him. All he had to worry about right at this very moment was eating his breakfast and making sure he didn't get any jam on his robes before class. There wasn't any offending blobs on him anywhere, so he seemed to be doing pretty well so far. The bacon was good and it went well with the scrambled eggs and toast. He decided that he would get more, since he wasn’t expecting to rush before classes began for the day.

He wished Hedwig was here to steal bacon from him, but she was gone. She had been killed in a recent Death Eater attack and a day didn’t go by that he thought of her. Over time, he’d learned to gently close the pain of her loss in a box in his mind. It helped, a little. Others had asked if he was going to get another owl but he told them that he wasn’t ready for it yet. Hermione said that she understood, where others blew it off. He appreciated her perceptiveness.

The ceiling of the Great Hall was stormy, with lightning flashing from edge to edge. He could hear the rumbles from outside from his seat. That meant the weather outside was particularly nasty, given that the Great Hall had other rooms stuffed around it and helped to dampen outside noise. It was a good thing that today wasn’t a practice day for Quidditch. A few people didn’t mind flying around in lightning, but he thought it was better postponed. Professor Flitwick was gazing at the ceiling too. There was a slight frown on his face and Harry wondered what was on the half-goblin’s mind. He didn’t have much company at the table yet but that would change soon enough. Professor McGonagall was headed for her seat near the middle.

There was a thump on the table next to him and he turned his head to see his best friend Ron stumble into something resembling a seated position. Harry wasn't too sure he was even awake, but if the workings of his nostrils had anything to do with it then part of him was aware of his surroundings. Neville walked in, a huge yawn cracking his jaw. He chose a seat away from the redheaded boy and sat there blearily. It usually took a while for him to wake up.

By habit, Harry was an early riser. Years of living with the Dursleys and their morning routines had introduced and reinforced that habit. Of course now he didn’t need to be up that early but it was something that he couldn’t easily break. Of the other boys in his dorm, he was almost always the first one to be awake, showered and dressed. By the time he left the dorm to start his day, the others would still be asleep. This allowed him to be at the tables for breakfast first.

It was often amusing to see the other straggle in, whether student or professor. The Ravenclaws usually didn’t show up quite this early, but occasionally one or two showed up. A little blonde with an odd necklace and no shoes smiled and waved at Harry, which he returned. She was another that Harry was coming to care about since she didn’t care about the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense. Those kinds of friends were rare to him.

The Hufflepuffs were already there, for the most part. They seemed ready to get their day started, since a great deal of that House rose early. It seemed to the others that the Puffs were a bit odd for that reason, but the other Houses shook their heads and went about their business. They had their own routines. The Puffs knew it was about the bacon and eggs being freshly cooked and they weren’t about to reveal that secret to anyone who didn’t already know it or weren’t already a Badger.

Only a quarter or so of the Slytherins were there. He could see that they were mostly bunched up in groups and whispering to each other about whatever they were plotting for the day. Some of their number, like the Greengrass sisters, sat apart haughtily and took no part but monitored what was happening. It wouldn’t do to get caught up in whatever was in the works and have to talk their way out of it.

Harry watched with amusement as Ron piled his plate high with various selections and tucked in. The other boy was oblivious to everything but what was on his plate for a good bit of time. Once he’d been given a chance to have woken up a little, Harry asked him about the upcoming Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Even half-asleep and eating, Ron had an opinion about it. That opinion was voiced in between gigantic bites of everything on the plate trembling before him. Harry started counting down in his head and sure enough, at 'one' he heard a familiar voice at his other side.

"Honestly, Ronald. Do you even stop to take a breath every so often or do you just inhale food and spew it everywhere?"

There wasn't an answer to that from the redhead. Well, not that he could determine anyway and he wasn’t going to say anything. No one else watching was quite sure if Ron was even aware that he was awake or had been addressed by someone other than Harry. It did seem to everyone that it was some kind of muscle memory at work. Harry shot a droll look at the bushy-haired young woman. She saw the look and raised a grimace, but with the general speculation going on no one decided to call just yet.

There was a gurgle of draining pumpkin juice to their left and the girl to the other side of Ron Weasley started reconsidering her decision to sit there that morning. It seemed that whoever sat there did so depending on what day it was. One of the first things Gryffindor House during the youngest Weasley boy's first year was to institute a schedule of people assigned (some said doomed) to sit there. As the tables were only so large, even with magic, the limits in size meant that only so many people could be seated there. Lately the schedule was taking a beating in favor of 'first come, first served.' Not first to sit beside Ron, but first to sit away from him. Some of the sixth and seventh-year girls went around touting that seat as good for appetite suppressant purposes. Anyone who wondered about that only needed a single meal to understand the advertising. Everyone who sat there either picked at their food or just didn't eat. Of course, Ron didn't notice since food was more important.

"Hey, Harry! How can you stand to sit on the other side of him eating like that?"

This question came up every so often. This time it was from a disgusted third-year who glanced at her own plate, unsure if she really needed to eat breakfast. There were several hidden grins at her displeased look. Oh, the innocence of youth.

"I'm used to it,” Harry shrugged. “Compared to some of the other things I've been through, this is nothing. Well, that and sometimes I forget to take out the earplugs. His bed is next to mine in the dorm."

The green eyes didn't even look up at the now-familiar question. There was a snort down the table from the twins.

"That's the truth. Ronniekins could drown out anything." Fred winked at his brother. "We would have to camp out in the woods behind the Burrow and still hear him snoring at night. We never had to worry about wild animals approaching us."

“Well, of course, my less handsome brother. We had to every so often. Otherwise we couldn’t sleep. That and have somewhere to hide certain things with monetary potential.”

“Shush, my less intelligent brother. No need to let out the secret of our success. We’ll let our uglier brother here distract from our more comely faces.”

“Of course, of course.”

The subject of this short aside ignored everything said, although Hermione glared at them. The twins grinned, knowing that this would be the best time to prank Ron but held off doing it. They’d found themselves under scrutiny from Professor McGonagall over the last few days and were laying low. She was very much unamused at the appearances of skunks that lined up and sang show tunes off-key with dancing and changed lyrics. They’d been singing and dancing for the last two days. The lyrics in question bordered on obscene but didn’t cross the line. It didn’t matter since the more brave in the school sang them anyway, usually where Professor McGonagall couldn’t hear.

Harry smirked at the twins’ repartee. He’d gotten used to that as well and privately admitted that it was very entertaining – so long as he wasn’t exhausted. He pondered changing Ron’s hair color himself and saying nothing, but since he was seated too close to the twins it wasn’t a good idea. Professor McGonagall was still watching them, after all. Maybe another morning. He would get Ginny to help him. She was always up for a good prank, especially when Ron was getting on her nerves like he’d been for the last week or so.

There was something else bothering him about this morning, but he didn’t know what it was. For some reason he thought he heard someone whispering in parseltongue. That was a disquieting thought, even though the basilisk had been dead for years. As far as he knew and felt, there wasn’t any mind connections being forged by Voldemort, so that couldn’t be it either. His scar was quiet.

What was it?

Hermione finally sat at her accustomed place next to Harry. She plopped down heavily and groaned. He looked over at her since it sounded like she was in pain.

“Hermione, are you okay?”

She nodded her head. The curtain of bushy hair that she’d been growing out undulated gently, but he couldn’t see her face. Hermione seemed to be concentrating on something, but it wasn’t food. Her plate remained bare. After a short pause, she glanced up at the staff table and frowned.

“Something doesn’t feel right, Harry.”

“You, too? I’ve been trying to figure it out for the last few minutes.” He glanced about too, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

Next to him, Ron continued with his breakfast. That was business as usual, so to speak, so that wasn’t it. He kept looking around, trying to find whatever was out of the ordinary to try to explain his growing unease. Over the years, he’d developed a sense of foreboding but it was never specific. He usually found out what was wrong when it happened to him.

“It feels like the magic in the castle is being stirred around like spaghetti sauce,” Hermione muttered uneasily.

He thought about her analogy. It make sense to him.

“So long as we’re not getting hit by the wooden spoon.” His comment was equally quiet. She nodded at his statement, which didn’t help with the fodeboding.

Harry gazed up at the staff table. Professor Flitwick seemed to notice it as well, and he was also looking around to try to discern what was bothering him. He had a frown on his normally smiling face and that told Harry that whatever was going on was not to be discounted. The short Professor looked over to the staff entrance to see the Headmaster arrive. Dumbledore was wearing bright yellow robes with blue and red shooting stars, trimmed in a glossy black and a matching hat. The red stars seemed to be moving slowly and twinkling at the same rate as his eyes. Several people blinked hard with suddenly wet eyes when they saw the outfit. Somebody nearby mumbled something about squashed canaries with jam but Harry couldn’t tell who it was..

Dumbledore ignored the reactions prompted by his sartorial choices and focused on Flitwick.

“Good morning, Filius. It seems to be stormy outside and in, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, Headmaster, and I don’t know why. Do you?” Professor Flitwick didn’t mention the shooting stars. After all the years at Hogwarts, he was mostly inured to the often flamboyant robes. It took a lot for him to comment now.

“No. No I don’t, and in my experience it could be either good or bad. Let’s hope for good.”

Dumbledore’s brow furrowed in suspicion as he looked around the area around the Gryffindor table. It seemed that there was something going on in his mind, as though old memories were being dusted off and brought up for display. He palmed his wand, just in case, and waited to order his breakfast.

A wind picked up in the Great Hall. It slightly corresponded to the fury depicted on the ceiling, but where it came from nobody could tell. Harry started to get a little more uneasy about it. He heard a gasp from Hermione. It didn’t sound good and he could see the faces of those more in attune with their environment. They were more and more upset but couldn’t tell what was going on. There was thunder now, which reverberated from the stone walls.

It was not comfortable, at all.

The Great Hall was getting brighter, as though the wall mounted torches were putting out more light for some reason. He heard Dumbledore cast something but he didn’t know what it was. With the increased lighting came some pain and he glanced at Hermione's pinched expression. He thought that whatever he was feeling, she had to be as well. Harry wanted to see if anyone else felt that way and started to rise from his seat when something enveloped him.

Harry thought his body was being pulled in two directions at once and squeezed. It wasn’t like the discomfort of Apparition. He was at least used to that. This was different. He didn’t know what it was or what was happening, but he knew it was not a good thing. Harry could hear faint echoes of chanting but from where he didn’t know.

He reached out to put his hand on Hermione’s shoulder and she turned to look at him. The moment his eyes met hers, there was a blinding flash of gleaming blue light. He heard several pain-filled screams at the same time from somewhere in the room. Harry felt himself lifted from his seat, a sharp pain all over his body, and then darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Two_

  
  


“Ow!”

It turned out that the walls of the castle were very hard indeed. Harry rubbed the quickly rising bump on his head and groaned. His eyes were screwed shut. Some of the most amazing colors he’d ever seen were flying around behind his eyelids. Harry figured that it would be safest for now to let things settle. While he did, he took stock of other aches and pains.

First was his groin. Somehow it felt like he’d been kicked there by a hippogriff, which would explain the higher vocal registers he was currently reaching. The next area to report in was his right knee and shin. He thought it felt… wooden… of all things, which didn’t make sense. That could be set aside, because his ribs decided to make their collective displeasure known. Harry didn’t know if he’d tripped or fell or what, but there was a distinct feeling of liquid fire. Broken? It sure felt like it and more familiarly than he like to admit.

He didn’t know, and his nose itched. The resulting sneeze did not help at all.

“Owwwwwww!”

“Harry? Oh, no! I’m sorry for kneeing you, and falling on you, and…” Hermione’s upset voice answered some of his questions, including the one about his itching nose. With a nose full of bushy brown hair, he supposed that could explain it. A shaking hand came up to reassure her.

Well, or try to. He still hadn’t opened his eyes.

“Hermione?”

“Harry! Don’t move, okay? I’m really sorry!”

“What happened? And while I’m not really complaining right now, why are you laying on me?”

If his eyes had been open enough, Harry would have seen a strong blush on her face. As it were, he wasn’t sure he could have handled the light from the torches. Darkness sounded like a good thing right now. Maybe he could get Hermione to take notes for him in their shared classes while he rested...

“Mr. Potter! Don’t move, and don’t go to sleep! Wake up!”

He snorted at the repeated command from Professor Flitwick, then grimaced at the sharp stab of pain in his ribs.

“I don’t plan on it, sleep I mean…”

Harry tried to be firm in the answer but it came out a bit weak. Hermione sniffled as she tried to ease carefully off Harry’s frame. A tear dropped on his cheek and he cracked an eye open. It was a mistake.

He didn’t know his head could spin like that, but he saw her face above his at least. Harry closed that eye quickly. His hand reached out for her and squeezed, trying to comfort her.

“Harry!” Her voice squeaked. “Let go of me. That hurts!”

The eye cracked open again and he could see that the hand had landed on her inner thigh as she was trying to get off him. It didn’t take long for him to jerk the hand away and he could feel his face heating up somewhere around magma.

Great. In pain and embarrassed. Hopefully, no one else saw that.

“Harrikins! Wouldn’t it be better to be in better shape and in private first with the delectable Miss Granger?”

“Maybe he got confused from that bump on his head, my uglier brother. That wall got him good.”

“Or maybe he likes it rough, my dumber brother. She got him good.”

“Hmmmm. You could be right. Something to think about for his next birthday.”

A very insincere snort came from somewhere to his left where the twins had been seated.

“I don’t know if I want to think about that, do you?”

“Good point.”

Maybe not. He rolled his eyes with them shut and regretted it when the pain spiked. Even while making sure he wasn’t dead, the twins had to say something amusing. Even then he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t have a crack ready to go if he had snuffed it. She scowled at them, which made them shut up quickly but didn’t stop them from smirking at him. There was low muttering at his side that sounded a bit like the half-goblin’s voice and suddenly his ribs were bound. It helped a bit.

“Mr. Potter. Relax. I’ve wrapped your ribs temporarily. I’m going to levitate you to the hospital ward. Your bed is waiting for you there.”

“Of course it is,” he grumbled.

“If I were you, I’d keep your eyes closed until Poppy sees to you. You could have a concussion, and with apologies to Miss Granger, having her body weight introduced suddenly like that didn’t help.”

“No, it didn’t,” Harry said before he caught himself. He stiffened then grimaced at the pain. If Hermione heard that, it wouldn’t be good for him later! There was a chuckle at his ear.

“Relax, lad. I don’t _think_ she heard that, but I’d watch what I said for a while. She’s a bit broken up, but also focused pretty hard on you. Remember who you’re talking about unless you want to reap payback at a later time.”

Harry nodded slightly, the movement making his head swim. Flitwick continued thoughtfully after levitating him up.

“And while I’m thinking about it, payback’s a bitch. Remember that, too.”

Harry snorted involuntarily then groaned. He decided that it was a better idea to just be quiet until Madam Pomfrey could see to him. It didn’t take long to get him set up in the usual bed – of course – and have the others shooed out so she could work. She had a long-suffering tone in her voice as she waved her wand over him to start cataloging his injuries. A quill was dancing around over a nearby parchment as she worked.

“What have you done to yourself this time, Mr. Potter?”

“I’m not quite sure. I was eating breakfast, there was a flash of light, and I fell.”

His eyes were still closed against the light.

“Three broken ribs from a fall? How did you manage to break your ribs from eating breakfast and falling?”

“Um… Hermione was on top of me.”

The mediwitch tried to keep her lips from twitching, but failed. Her voice was still no-nonsense from years of practice, especially with her current patient.

“Mr. Potter, I’m going to give you some free advice. Where injuries are concerned, don’t phrase your answers like that or let the female in question hear it. You might soon have need of more healing procedures than you’d have otherwise experienced. We both know what kind of pain she can dish out if you don’t get a grip.”

Harry did yet more blushing and despite the pain in his body, mental images arose which he tried to stop. It was something he’d started wondering from time to time.

“I can see that.” It didn’t come out very assured, but Madam Pomfrey ignored it.

“Open your eyes and let me see your pupils.”

He did and the light was a little more bearable then. He glanced over at the mediwitch. There was something different about her that he couldn’t figure out but considering his condition at that moment, it wasn’t important enough to track down.

She continued to wave her wand around, then referred to the parchment beside her.

“Mild concussion, three broken ribs, directed impact in the scrotum, wood slivers in right knee and shin, twisted ankle, various bumps and bruises… are you sure you want to play Quidditch this year?”

“Believe me, Madam Pomfrey, Quidditch is the last thing on my mind right now.”

She harrumphed at his retort.

“Good answer. Well, you probably already know, but you’re staying here today. Probably tonight, too.”

He squinted at her.

“Don’t give me that look or I’ll make it tomorrow, too. All day. On liquids.”

She would, too. He huffed and closed his eyes again.

“I’ll be right back, Mr. Potter.”

Harry didn’t bother wondering what she was doing, since he knew the drill by now. She came back in a few minutes with a tray filled with potions of varying size and colors. There was also a large glass of buttermilk. He gave it a less than happy look.

“Ugh. Buttermilk.”

“Trust me. You’re going to appreciate it more if you don’t drink it first. I have some new formulas to try out on my most commonly-seen patient. Research, you know.”

He squinted at her again. She pointed to the calendar on the wall to remind him of her threat, which made him shift his gaze quickly as she continued speaking.

“Buttermilk first, then these four. Wait a few minutes, then drink down these three. I would suggest taking a breath first on each of those.”

Harry had to stop and wonder who made the potions to taste that bad if she was making that suggestion. A rueful nod later and she was helping him sit up in the bed, with pillows behind him. Harry grimaced as he picked up the buttermilk.

“Really?”

She frowned and pierced him with a severe glare. He shrugged and drained the glass with a grimace. The first set of potions followed after that, then the other set. Harry shuddered at the taste of the last one. Madam Pomfrey nodded.

“Good. I will let Miss Granger in to visit for a few minutes – fifteen at most. No more! I need to look after her too, from the looks of her.”

He nodded and sat back to wait. It was usually ten minutes, so he wasn’t going to complain about her carrot-and-stick methods. The mediwitch left his bedside, grumbling about repeat customers and brass plate engraving for him specifically. There was a mutter or three about customer loyalty discounts, too. Harry wasn’t sure how to feel about the last part.

“Harry?” She sounded a little unsure.

“Come in, Hermione. I’m okay, just really sore. What happened back there?”

Hermione frowned.

“I’m not sure. We were eating breakfast, Ron was being his gross self, and the twins were making jokes.”

“The usual, you mean.”

“Well, yes, but the last thing I remember before… whatever it was… happened was that we looked at each other.”

“I remember a bright light, wind, and some colors. And pain, too. I could swear I heard chanting coming from somewhere.”

“There was that, too. Not the chanting. I didn’t notice that. I felt something similar to a portkey dragging me off the seat, the light, and then falling. Oh, Harry, I’m sorry I landed on you and squished your – well, your…” Her eyes started to move in that direction, which was covered with a hospital blanket. “And well… I know it had to hurt, and…”

He cut in, not wanting her to flounder around. He could feel his face start to heat up.

“I’m okay, Hermione.”

He wasn’t, but he didn’t want to make her feel worse. Their faces were getting red again. She soldiered on in her explanation, hoping to get past the embarrassment.

“After we landed, I was more interested in making sure you were okay. I heard something snap.”

“I did, too. Madam Pomfrey got me sorted out, but I had to drink buttermilk. Yuck.”

She frowned.

“What’s wrong with buttermilk?”

Harry gaped at her. She looked honestly confused.

“… Never mind.”

They chatted for a few minutes, ignoring the voices in the outer hall way. He reassured her that he’d be okay soon and not to worry about him. Harry tried to sound more sure about that than he really felt at that moment, and she seemed to take him at his word. Well, more so than usual. Hermione was too worried about his physical shape right now than trying to get him to be truthful.

There was a clatter at the doorway and a familiar voice came from that area.

“Harry? Oh, my. In the hospital wing yet again. What did you do to yourself this time?”

Shock was all over Harry’s face and he stared at the doorway at the woman standing there. That voice was the same one he heard in some of his dreams at night, and Hermione couldn’t help but gasp when she looked in that direction.

Lily Potter stood there, worry and resignation on her face.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

  
  


“Mum??”

Hermione turned at the gobsmacked note in Harry’s voice. She gasped at what he’d already seen. In the doorway, stood a woman with flaming locks of auburn hair, ivory skin, and eyes of emerald green – eyes just like the young man on the bed. Behind her stood Professor Flitwick, rolling his eyes at the sight of Harry back in ‘his natural habitat,’ as he and some of the other teachers had come to call that particular bed in the hospital wing. He turned to murmur something to Lily, and Hermione gasped.

“Professor Flitwick? What did you do to your hair? And when?”

He turned back to her, confusion on his face. Lily took the opportunity to rush to Harry’s bedside to check his condition for herself. Her hands were warm and he couldn’t help but relax at her touch.

“Miss Granger, what do you mean? I’ve always had it like this. Well, for at least the last sixty years or so.”

The Charms professor stood with a braided ponytail draped over his shoulder. She could see a battleaxe slung over the other shoulder and his wand in a forearm holster. There was still the happy gleam in his eyes – muted at the moment in deference to the injuries – and the thick mustache with maybe more gray in it than she remembered, but this was still Filius Flitwick.

Her eyes narrowed in sudden speculation, and Hermione wondered what other differences she would find. It didn’t take long.

“Indeed, Miss Granger, and I really should find out how he does it too. I could do with learning how to do that myself.”

The deep, gravelly voice came from behind the other two. Lily shifted at Harry’s bedside to run her fingers through his messy hair with affection. Professor Flitwick stood to the side to let the speaker through. Hermione gasped in shock, and Harry tore himself from the feeling of his mother’s affection to join her. His eyes were wide.

Albus Dumbledore stood there, a rough eyepatch over his left eye. His robes were solid black dragonskin and he carried a bastard sword on his back. There were many tiny nicks on the bright blade and the grip looked well used. He carried it as if it was a part of his body. The old wizard’s thick wrists wore finely crafted gauntlets with embedded runestones that shimmered with power but for what reason, she didn’t know. She could see many scars on his hands. The sight was so jarring to Hermione that she shook her head before looking again.

“Professor Dumbledore? But what…”

The genial air Dumbledore carried vanished suddenly as he saw the scar revealed by Lily’s tousling of Harry’s admittedly uncooperative hair. Dumbledore frowned at the young woman, and his eye narrowed in returned speculation. He looked at the young man on the bed again as well. Everyone could see that he had something on his mind, but what exactly no one knew.

Some sort of crystalline object came out of a hidden pocket in his robes and he traced it over Harry’s prone form after he approached the bed. He paused as he got near Hermione, and waved it near her as well. Everyone could see the crystal give off flashes of light but at varying intensities. Dumbledore regarded the crystal’s actions for a moment, then waved it over Lily. He ignored her questioning look but everyone saw that it had darkened while near her. After a moment in which they both could feel magical power washing over them, the eye widened more than they’d ever seen on his face.

“You’ve got to be shittin’ me,” he breathed.

All eyes turned to him in confusion as he put the crystal away. It simply didn’t sound like something that the aged Headmaster would say. He sketched a short bow to Hermione, whose mouth was agape at his pronouncement. This baffled her as well. He’d never bowed to her for any reason.

“Miss Granger, bear with me a moment, as I know your insatiable desire for knowledge. I think this is going to take a while, if what I suspect is true. Both you and Mr. Potter have been given a new problem to solve by persons unknown by falling in our laps, almost literally. I think there will be issues to deal with because of it and I will do my very best to help the two of you with it.”

She heard Harry snort at the first part before starting to say something and pinched him without delay. He grimaced.

“Shush, Harry! I want to hear this!”

Apparently the whispered admonition wasn’t as quiet as she’d intended. Lily snorted too, exactly as Harry had. Professor Flitwick found it funny, too. He looked at the Headmaster.

“That’s definitely Miss Granger, if there had been any doubt.” He sounded like he had followed whatever Dumbledore’s train of thought had been. The others hadn’t done that and were mystified.

The Headmaster nodded his head but didn’t smile. He waved his wand in a complex motion. Everyone could feel the strongest privacy wards settle that the small group had ever experienced. Another wave conjured chairs for everyone, but not the overstuffed ones that the youngest of the group usually saw him create. These were the kind they could expect Professor McGonagall to conjure, but it apparently didn’t faze the others.

“I would agree, Filius, but not _our_ Miss Granger. Nor our Mr. Potter. Miss Granger, what day is it?”

All eyes turned to him. Lily’s hands stopped moving. One of Flitwick’s eyebrows rose slowly. Dumbledore waited for the answer.

“It’s Friday, Professor.” She looked confused, and Dumbledore nodded to himself as if making a decision.

“I would much rather have this conversation in my office. I will ask Poppy if she can spare Mr. Potter for that long.”

He looked at Harry for a moment and his lips twitched.

“I suspect it will take a lot of convincing and then he’ll soon be back in that bed. I overheard her earlier speculation about brass nameplates. I will be back momentarily and will either dissuade her or at the very least convince her to find a tasteful version.”

Hermione glanced at Harry. It was a common joke apparently, since Gryffindor Tower wondered the same thing. Wisely, she said nothing. After a few minutes Lily gently brushed the hair away from Harry’s scar.

“Sweetheart, where did you get that scar?” Lily’s voice seemed worried. “It looks old.”

“Ummm…” Harry’s voice was strangled so Hermione answered for him.

“He’s had it since he was a little over a year old.”

She could see the shocked regard that the older witch gave her. Hermione could hear gears spinning and counters ticking over in her head, although her expression didn’t change.

“More of that ‘not our Mr. Potter’ the Headmaster said? Do you know why he said that?”

“No, Mrs. Potter, I don’t. I think we have to wait for him to tell us, but with him that might take a while. Pulling teeth may be easier.”

The Charms professor behind them exploded in a belly laugh, which startled the others. Harry groaned after he jumped, since the pain potions hadn’t quite finished working.

“Oh! Oh, sorry Mr. Potter. I couldn’t help it. Truer words were never spoken, Miss Granger. I’ve said that to him a time or two. Maybe more than that.”

He approached the bed and squinted at the scar. The half-goblin muttered something which no one caught. Lily’s hands tightened at the tone. She exchanged knowing glances with the professor when she noticed that Hermione’s hands had done the same with Harry’s hands. Flitwick raised his eyebrow when Hermione wasn’t looking at him.

Lily glanced at Hermione.

“And when did it become ‘Mrs. Potter? You haven’t called me that in years.”

“Um, well, it’s been a long while since I’ve seen you.”

Lily just nodded to her with a smile. She glanced up at Flitwick when Hermione looked down at Harry. He swallowed.

“Mum?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I’m so glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you, too, sweetheart, but it really sounds like there’s a lot to talk about.”

Hermione took his free hand again and he drew comfort from her presence.

“Mum, I don’t know how to explain this. I was in the Great Hall eating breakfast with Ron and Hermione and… something happens.”

“You fell somehow, Harry.” Lily’s voice was soothing. Flitwick moved to the foot of the bed and divided his attention between Harry and the doorway.

“Yes, but I don’t know how to explain that and I really don’t know how to explain seeing you here. Is it really you?” He sounded so weary.

Lily’s smile froze for a moment and she darted a look at Hermione. She was shocked to see tears in the younger girl’s chocolate brown eyes. When she returned her attention to Harry, she could see tears in his eyes, too. Tears and a tiredness that she hadn’t seen in anyone’s eyes in a long time. Her motherly instincts spoke for her before she could think.

“Yes, Hare Bear. It’s me. I’m here.”

She leaned down to hug him. She could feel restrained sobs in his short frame, and wondered at his size. This wasn’t her son – he was taller and more muscular. But how could it be that there was a tangible connection between them? If she closed her eyes, the sound of his voice was the exact same. The feel of his hair. Maybe not the color of his eyes, but the mind behind his eyes were so familiar to her.

And Hermione? She was almost the exact same as she’d always been. More volume in her hair, for sure, but more self-possessed. The differences weren’t as plain as with Harry, but a mother knows her child and Hermione was close to her too.

Professor Flitwick seemed to know what was going through her mind, because he was in agreement with her. Hermione was one of his favorite students. As Lily could tell with the young man in the bed, he could tell with the young woman at his side. He sighed.

“I suspect Miss Granger knows already. I’ve seen that look in her eye much too often to think otherwise. I happen to agree with her, but it would be best to wait for the Headmaster?”

Hermione nodded, but held her peace. Harry didn’t.

“Professor? Where are we exactly and what happened to Professor Dumbledore’s eye?”

Lily sighed in amused exasperation. Yes, this was her impatient son. Apparently Flitwick was thinking the same thing. Hermione, too, if the rolled eyes were any indication. The half-goblin grinned.

“Well, we are in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. More precisely, you are in your reserved bed, where the monthly bets on how often you inhabit it gets plenty of action. Meanwhile we stand around it wondering if we’ll win this month.”

Hermione glared at him as much as she could glare at a professor, which he found highly amusing. The betrayed expression on Harry’s face didn’t help. After his chuckles subsided, he went on.

“And Professor Dumbledore lost his eye to a goblin found stealing from his vault. The goblin lost his head. Well, his head, both arms, a couple of toes, and his left buttock.”

“What?” Hermione gasped, forgetting about the bets.

“It’s true. His sword was covered in blood. Good thing he carries it everywhere. He was able to challenge that thief and get restitution. Aside from that, that’s all I’ll say about it. Private matter.”

“A duel? Without his wand?”

Flitwick regarded her.

“Yes, a goblin duel. Goblins don’t duel with wands in Gringotts. Bladed weapons only.”

Harry was listening.

“Like your battleaxe?”

The short professor grinned again.

“Very much so, Mr. Potter! Except he’s not much on axes like mine. He prefers a long blade.”

There was quiet in the room for a few minutes, and Lily went back to caressing Harry’s dark hair. She inspected the scar. Harry ignored it, mostly, as he asked his next question.

“Are we going to find the other professors carrying blades?”

“Some, Mr. Potter. For example, Professor McGonagall has a claymore of course, but she carries her little knife. A throat ripper, that one. Her claws are always sharp in both forms. Others prefer to be a bit discreet about it but it’s hard for the average person to tell. Students are not allowed to, however, without a great deal of training. Also a great deal of threats about what happens with misuse.”

Harry pondered his mother, wondering if she did. She smiled primly at him and said nothing.

Any further speculation or attempts to answer questions on either side was interrupted by the sound of the Headmaster returning with the mediwitch. She moved to his bedside and motioned Hermione away brusquely.

“Albus has told me that there’s a need to be in his office, and why, but I don’t like it. Drink that. No complaints. After he finishes with you – both of you – you will return here.” A beady eye was affixed to Harry and Hermione. She didn’t know why she was included, but knew better than to argue with the mediwitch when she got that look on her face. They nodded.

Pomfrey started waving her wand over him, starting at his feet. She shushed him when he started to say something. Hermione thought she was looking for something since it took longer than the last time. The young witch looked up when she heard scratching. There was another parchment scribbling merrily away as the mediwitch worked. They weren’t sure why there was a second parchment in use, but everyone figured she had her reasons. No one could see what was being written, since the parchments had a privacy charm imbued in them.

The others in the room didn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt or risk her wrath. The wand paused at his forehead and sparks jumped in her eyes as the wand tip glowed slightly, but she kept a poker face. Without a word, she gathered up her parchments when finished and motioned for him to drink down the contents of the vial. With a speaking glance at the Headmaster, she left for her office. Professor Flitwick glanced at her retreating back.

“Huh. She didn’t say anything this time. Probably best, since you don’t want to find out what’s on her mind.”

Hermione thought that was odd as well, but decided that there was too many things that didn’t fit ‘normal’ as she knew it. As such, it seemed better to wait and gather information. She turned back to Harry as he sputtered complaints about the taste of the most recent potion.

“I fear that if she had, I would be any number of ash particles in the breeze, Filius. I will count it as a good thing. Regardless, we have something to do and time is moving ever onward.”

He took down the privacy ward and led the way to the office without another word. Lily walked next to Harry on one side and Hermione on the other. The older witch noted that the hands of the younger two stayed joined. She looked over her shoulder at Professor Flitwick. He had a thoughtful countenance, but when he noticed her look and for what, he winked at her.

The gargoyle moved aside without a word and the small group stepped into the Headmaster’s office.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Four_

  
  


The Headmaster’s office had changed. The portraits were there, but all looked subdued. Fawkes’ perch was there with no sign of the phoenix. There weren’t as many books as Harry remembered. For some reason there were various bladed weapons in a display rack. None looked any less than deadly. The room was as large and airy as he could remember, with the windows letting in the same amount of light. There was something a little different about the room aside from the décor, and he really couldn’t put his finger on it.

_Are there more portraits? Are the rugs different? Do the same odd magical instruments exist? Where was the Sword of Gryffindor? And why is there a minibar with firewhiskey in the corner?_

Several questions ran through his mind and there were no particularly good answers for him to find. He could see that Hermione was as confused as he was at the sight. Dumbledore let them over to a small table near his desk with several lightly cushioned chairs and bade them sit. A replica of his chair appeared for his use and he settled into it. A wave of his wand and several small dishes with a variety of sweets appeared, along with tankards of something that wasn’t pumpkin juice and that Harry wondered what it was. The others, apart from Hermione, didn’t seem to be concerned.

The Headmaster waved his wand at the door and walls and the same privacy wards they’d felt in the hospital sprang into existence. They looked at him in obvious confusion.

“My office has latent privacy wards that the hospital wing doesn’t have, tied to Hogwarts herself. With the addition of my magic, nothing here will be overheard by any method. In the hospital ward though it’s still possible. Harry, I’m sorry to be moving you from place to place but there are certain things that I suspect that simply must be secure. I will make sure that you get returned as soon as possible. Miss Granger, I asked you what day it was and you answered ‘Friday.’ It’s Tuesday today, not Friday.”

There was a moment of silence as he gathered his thoughts. He took out the crystalline object and placed it in the middle of the small table. He tapped it with his wand and it started to emit a slowly pulsing glow.

“Now, then. Harry, my boy, and Miss Granger – you’ll not mind if I address you as Hermione for this conversation?” A quick nod from her and he continued. “We find ourselves in a strange situation. This crystal is sensitive to things that govern temporal matters. It is used in many applications like clocks, timers for cooking and potions work, and certain tools generally used by Unspeakables.”

Hermione’s eyes widened, then narrowed again in supposition. This was sounding very familiar to her.

“Tools such as time-turners?”

His blue eyes cast a speculative glance at her before continuing.

“Just so. This particular crystal didn’t grow precise enough for use in those items, but its resonance ability is unimpaired otherwise. As such, detection of temporal eddies are well within its abilities. I am quite sure that the two of you are out of place temporally and possibly dimensionally, otherwise this crystal wouldn’t be reacting in this manner.”

“And there’s something about Harry and me that makes this crystal act up, for want of a better term?”

“Ten points to Gryffindor, assuming that both of you are Gryffindors.”

Harry glanced at the Headmaster.

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

Lily looked cross with the old man.

“Assuming, Albus? Are you trying to take ten minutes to say this isn’t my son?”

Harry turned to look at her and she got a good look at his eyes. She was surprised to see them mirror her own and she could see deep pain in his eyes. She didn’t know what had put that pain there, but she wanted it to be gone. Her attention was drawn by Hermione’s voice, distracting her from wondering when her son’s eyes had changed colors.

“Headmaster, there are several changes that might support that – your manner of dress which frankly is quite unexpected, Professor Flitwick’s hair, his battleaxe, and,” she turned to stare at Lily Potter, which threw her off for some reason. Harry’s voice was tear-filled and tired from the day’s shock as he finished her statement.

“And my mum is alive after so many years.”

A thick silence greeted these words, punctuated finally by a sob from Lily.

“So… so many years, you’re saying? Harry? But... how?”

She rushed to kneel in front of Harry, and gently took his face in her hands. The tears on his face triggered some of her own, and she gently wiped them away. The eyes looking back at her reminded Lily again of looking in her own mirror this morning. She knew that this wasn’t her son. Her Harry had hazel eyes like his father, but right now that didn’t matter. This was a son that needed his mother and didn’t have her.

The headmaster cleared his throat.

“That is probably a story that can wait for a bit to be told. Mr. Potter looks like he is wilting, so we should get on with our purposes of being here before Poppy sells our hides for cloaks.”

Everyone nodded and Hermione took Harry’s hand again. Lily noticed this, and smiled up at the younger woman with a nod. Professor Flitwick frowned at the crystal.

“So, Headmaster, you’re saying this crystal detects time-travelers? How did you think to have one at hand?”

“I normally don’t, since they can be tiring to carry day after day. That’s especially true where one of this size is concerned whether perfect or not. What suggested to me that I utilize this was hard experience from years ago. Many years ago before, before I became a teacher at Hogwarts.”

Everyone looked impressed. That was quite a long time ago. The old man went on.

“There was a hard battle with a man that had lost his wife and children. He was understandably distraught and his great grief drove him to go to lengths that you or I wouldn’t. He mistakenly saw me as the cause of those deaths and found a Dark ritual that took him back in time. I was the target of his ire and he tried to kill me. He arrived one morning through a portal exactly like the one that the two of you came through, with blood streaming out of his nose and mouth. It quickly became an exciting time for all involved.”

The youngest pair in the group looked at each other.

“Now neither of you had that affliction visited on you, I noticed. In my case, he told me that he had performed the ritual to bring him back, and told me what he was going to do. All while flinging all manner of curses at me. It made conversation quite difficult, as you might imagine.”

Harry could believe that, but didn’t interrupt.

“After a good hour of fighting, it was over and I stood victorious with this crystal in my hand. He had told me some other things before he passed to his reward – so to speak – and I wasn’t in good shape either. After I was released from my sickbed, I looked up this ritual. It can be performed alone or in concert, powered by certain crystals. Alone to send a single person back in time for a certain period, or in concert with an equivalent number of people for those traveling. Whoever performs the ritual has the consequence of ruptured sinuses and other membranes in that part of the body, plus structural damage to the nasal passages themselves. From that information and bearing in mind that neither of you seem to have that ailment, I have to conclude that someone tried to do that, but something unexpected happened. If it had worked then you’d be at an earlier point of your own time, however you’re not. This crystal,” he tapped it with his finger, “should be steady in the glow it emits if you’re from this time. However, it is not. I have to think that it is trying to discern the temporal differences and finding too much to be able to settle. After seeing what happened in the Great Hall, I took a moment to bring this to the hospital ward. I tried to disprove my theories with this crystal, but it was resolute.”

Hermione’s mind started to race with possibilities and variables. Lily spoke up, her own mind having been tumbling along those paths since seeing Harry’s eyes and hearing Dumbledore’s story.

“Headmaster just to be clear here, are you saying that they’re from another reality?”

Dumbledore smiled.

“Smartest witch of her age you are, it’s said.” He glanced at Hermione. “And I daresay another of a later age, too.”

Lily was of no mood for compliments.

“So what do we do to right this? They need to be home, not lost. And for that matter, where is my Harry?” She grabbed Harry’s other hand without thinking. Dumbledore’s eyes dimmed.

“I don’t know, Lily. I don’t know that yet or if there was a swap with our Hermione either. No one has seen her.”

Professor Flitwick grunted with a raised eyebrow toward Hermione.

“I’d think she would be with Mr. Potter. Whatever trouble he get into or finds him, then that’s where you’ll find her. No offense, Harry, but without her at your side, you’d never make it through some of your scrapes. The betting pool is vicious at times.”

Harry was nodding at the first part, but stopped at the second part. He frowned at the half-goblin, who grinned at him.

“Betting pool? Another one? I wholeheartedly agree with the ‘not making it’ part, but what’s this about betting? And why tell us about that? And how many are there?”

“This is going to take some getting used to for you and us too. I wouldn’t be surprised if your Hogwarts teachers do the same thing. Minerva cleans up on you two a lot. Besides, if you get home, then it won’t matter what bets we do here. Pomona still owes me a bottle of firewhiskey.”

“And I still owe her a bottle, Filius. Maybe we can settle with her?”

Hermione looked scandalized, although there was a glimmer of humor and pride in her eyes.

“But…”

Whatever she’d started to say was interrupted by the Headmaster. He cleared his throat softly and affixed her with a firm glance.

“But Poppy will have my head if I don’t get the two of you back to the hospital wing and soon. Yes, even you, Miss Granger, as you have been exposed to temporal effects. I would suggest that while Mr. Potter recuperates, you make a list of the differences between your reality and this reality. I would also recommend that you rest, but as I’m sure our Miss Granger wouldn’t until she had a cross-indexed list with references made first, you wouldn’t do so either.” A sturdy notebook materialized by him and he presented it to her. She saw a stylized “HJG” on the cover and she nodded a thanks to him.

Harry made a sound that seemed to be suspiciously like a cross between a chuckle and a cough, and she speared him with a look promising payback. He tried to look cherubic, but didn’t quite carry it off.

Professor Flitwick hid a smile behind his hand. This was going to liven up discussions in the staff break room for sure. For now, he had another thing that had been bothering him.

“Where did you get that scar on your forehead, Harry? That’s something new, apparently.”

The young man started, surprised at the question. It was a moment before he answered.

“Voldemort gave it to me at fifteen months old, when he…” He stopped suddenly and stared at Lily. Tears filled his eyes, and Hermione reacted immediately. She engulfed him in a hug and held him tightly as he shuddered.

Lily paled.

“No...”

Dumbledore sat up in his chair and waved his wand. A small ball of light formed at the tip and zipped out of his office, headed somewhere unknown.

“Questions should probably wait for now, although I confess I want to know that too. Plus another question: Who is Voldemort?”

Harry and Hermione stared at him, the twin aghast expressions on their faces unsettling everyone else in the room. Was this Voldemort person someone important or famous? The loss showing on his face made Harry look even more mournful and it made the others uneasy.

Lily had definitely had enough. She gently took Harry from Hermione and turned him to look at her. Her maternal instincts were in overdrive now. Lily spoke in a low, firm voice.

“Harry James Potter, you listen to me now.”

The eyes like her own blinked in surprise.

“I’m guessing that you lost your mother to this Voldemort and you grew up without her. You may not exactly be my son, but I don’t care. I can tell. You need your mother now more than you need to admit, and I’m here in her place. I’m right here. I’m Lily Potter and my son Harry needs me. I will never leave him whether I’m right here or in your heart. Do you hear me?”

He nodded slowly, then more quickly. His face collapsed while the tears overflowed and he sobbed as she pulled him close to her. Hermione reached out to rub his back in small circles. Her cheeks were wet too and she scrubbed them dry with her sleeve.

Madam Pomfrey stepped into the office to meet this scene. She looked at the Headmaster, who put a finger to his lips and rose quietly. He gestured for the Charms Professor to accompany him as he crossed the space to meet her at the doorway.

“What’s wrong with him? Is he in pain?”

Dumbledore sighed.

“Pain of the heart right now more than anything else I’d guess, Poppy. There’s a lot to him and a lot of secrets apparently.”

“I’d think so.” She looked at Lily hugging the crying young man close to her. “That’s not Harry Potter.”

He raised his shaggy eyebrows.

“What leads you to that conclusion?”

“That young man doesn’t match with my medical records. He’s been abused – bones broken, malnutrition, scars, many things. Some of it is hidden away and he doesn’t show it easily or willingly, but I can tell something’s wrong. I found a lot of things that I’d be calling the Aurors about on my healer’s authority, overriding yours.”

Flitwick stiffened.

“That explains a good deal then, but I want to know what happened to his mother, how he lost her and where he got that scar. That’s a curse scar from being hit with Dark magic.”

The mediwitch’s brow furrowed again.

“But his mother is right th… Wait, are you saying that there’s more than one Harry Potter and that’s not an actor sitting there? No polyjuice, glamours, or other disguises?”

Dumbledore sighed.

“Poppy, the most we can tell you right now is that somehow temporal effects have manifested. There may well more than one of each of us and it would probably be best to assume that to be the case. There’s been a lot of theoretical work done in that regard by the centaurs, anyway. The two young people sitting there have time-traveled, possibly dimension-skipped, and will surely be in need of your professional help to start getting back home. From what he’s not telling us, it’s been very rough on both of them.”

“Not telling you?”

He nodded.

“There are a lot of things here that we need to find out, but we can start that later this afternoon or tomorrow. For today, they need attention. I daresay Lily isn’t going to leave his side. It would be best if she took responsibility for both of them until we figure out all the differences in realities. I’ll square away her duties with Minerva.”

Madam Pomfrey evaluated them carefully, then nodded.

“I agree. I’ll take them with me and get them settled. There are more tests I want to run, anyway.”

Flitwick watched as she went over to the small group and got them to follow her out, then turned to the Headmaster.

“And here I hoped it was going to be a quiet day without one of Mr. Potter’s pranks.”

Dumbledore gazed at the door that had closed behind Hermione, and his remaining eye narrowed in speculation. He sighed.

“Something tells me that this Harry Potter hasn’t had much time to appreciate a well-done prank or for that matter had a happy life.”

Flitwick grunted in agreement.

“And you and I won’t be the only ones to notice that. Minerva will need to know. They may not be our students, per se, but they apparently are Gryffindors.”

The sound of a throat clearing and a grumpy voice interrupted them.

“And if you’d bothered to put me on their heads, I could have saved all of you the time and trouble. Help will always be given at Hogwarts for those that ask, you know. So ask!”

They turned to see the Sorting Hat wriggling irritably on its stand.

“Damn this uncomfortable stand! Albus, get me on his head tonight and let me do some work.”

“But what kind? Sorting?”

The Hat snorted in derision, as much as a Hat could be said to snort.

“Ever hear that saying that went, ‘there are more things in heaven and earth that are dreamed in your philosophy?’”

“Well, no.”

The Hat muttered for a moment about illiterate savages.

“I’ll cut to the chase instead of blathering on like you do.”

Flitwick couldn’t help chuckling, and Dumbledore shot him a martyred look.

“Just like there are more than one Harry Potter, there’s more than one Sorting Hat… and we all know about each other.”

The old man and the half-goblin stared at the Hat.

“How many of you are there?”

The old Sorting Hat grimaced.

“Can’t tell you. There’s another saying. ‘Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.’”

More blank looks. More grumbling.

“’Time and Relative Dime…? Oh, never mind.”

Yet more grumbling. Dumbledore wondered what use a ‘doctor’ would be, since Madam Pomfrey was quite capable and he didn’t see what the Muggles could do in this situation anyway. Strangely, he got the feeling she would have seemed amused at the reference.

“Hat, do you really need to be there? Are you sure?”

“Yes, you overgrown hairy hedgerow! Who’s been right more times, me or you?”

Flitwick grinned, but didn’t say anything. Dumbledore shot him a look that promised retaliation if he did.

“Well, I’d better get to my classroom and avert chaos.”

Dumbledore sighed.

“And you’d instigate chaos yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“Nope! That’s what the Weasley twins are for, and apparently the Sorting Hat too!”

The Charms professor left with a laugh and a promise to send Professor McGonagall soon. Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, his mind chewing over the problem to the sound of the Hat’s mutters. And what was that about an unexpected manner of dress?

  
  


|---====OOOOO====---|

  
  


“Albus?”

Dumbledore looked up see his Deputy Headmistress in the doorway.

“Come in, Minerva. I need your thoughts.”

The Scotswoman entered the office and sat primly on the chair directly across from Dumbledore. She spoke without pause.

“I’m assuming this is about Mr. Potter and Miss Granger?”

He sighed.

“Yes, although it’s more precise to say ‘a Mr. Potter and Miss Granger.’ There’s been a temporal effect this morning in the Great Hall involving them.”

She settled back without expression on her face, although the Headmaster knew that these were two of her most cared about lions.

“I’m listening.”

“I think there was either a temporal or dimensional switch between two sets of Potters and Grangers. It would probably be wise to check if there are any students acting oddly…” He paused at her expression. “Well, more odd than usual.”

“I will. What happened?”

He told her and she sat back to think. Dumbledore waited for her to finish, which didn’t take long.

“First, determine differences. Second, determine similarities. Third, help in any way possible in the short term. Fourth, try to reverse. We have to find our students.”

He agreed.

“There must be one big difference already. The apparent different appearances of myself and Filius didn’t seem to shock them as much as the existence of Lily Potter. I don’t think this version of Harry grew up with either her or James, and was in an abusive home. He had a lot of old injuries consistent with severe beatings.”

This was enough to crack the poker face of the woman on the other side of the desk. She put her hand to her mouth and Dumbledore could see tears in her eyes.

“Harry without Lily or James? I can’t imagine it!”

“Either can I. In fact, I don’t really want to. When Lily saw him earlier and held him, it was like a floodgate burst.”

“Oh, the poor dear. We simply must help him. What about Miss Granger?”

“This version is, for want of a better phrase, sharper than a scalpel. I’m not saying our Miss Granger is less than smart by any means, but this version is…” He broke off.

“Albus?”

He shook his head.

“I got the distinct impression that she was battle-tested and had command of spell upon spell upon spell at her disposal. He did as well, after the shock of seeing Lily. But in her case, I’d feel bad for anyone with ill intent trying to get the better of her. It would probably come with an extended stay in St. Mungo’s.”

Minerva’s face was set again, but there was a sure pride in her eyes.

“What do you want me to do, Albus?”

“Look after them, for now. I don’t know what their version of Hogwarts was like or for that matter my counterpart. Work with Filius. If your counterparts are like either of you, then they have a soft spot for both of them. If that’s so, then it will be easier for you to have a rapport with them. Filius seems to get along with them quite well.”

“Filius would get along with a dragon with a toothache.”

“Well… you know what I mean.”

The Deputy Headmistress nodded.

“Very well. I will visit them soon. Where are they now?”

“Poppy has them in her domain, probably swallowing a lot of ill tasting potions. It took a lot of convincing and several boxes of my private stock of chocolates to get her to release them to me and find out that much about them. I was afraid she’d ask for a raise first.”

Minerva snorted.

“I’ll be sure not to give her any ideas.”

Dumbledore frowned as another thought hit him.

“I’m concerned about the trail going cold, as it were. I’m going to call in someone that’s more experienced in this than I am while you work on our young travelers. I’m wondering how well they’d fit in with classes but they’re already different enough that I’m unsure if they would.”

“Ever the educator.”

“Comes with the job, Minerva.”

She agreed with the statement and left.

Dumbledore sighed at the closed door. He was unsure if he wanted to tempt Fate by asking what was next. There seemed to be enough to worry about going on with as it were.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter Five_

  
  


The hospital wing was quiet when Madam Pomfrey returned with her guests.

“Right, then. In your beds, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger.”

Hermione scrunched up her face.

“Why me? I was going to go to the library and…” she was cut off by the mediwitch.

“Oh, no you’re not. You came through the same way that Mr. Potter did. Before I have you in contact with the other students, I’m going to make sure you’re okay. You might have picked up some bug or something.”

“But…”

This time, Lily answered her.

“And we will minimize contact with people you think you might know before you do or say anything that raises suspicion or causes problems for either of you. We will probably have to find you temporary quarters, too.”

Madam Pomfrey crossed her arms and smiled at Hermione. The smile was smug as the young witch couldn’t think of anything to counter that. She sat on the other bed with her arms crossed and looked very put out as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over her. The mediwitch tutted for a few minutes.

Harry, of course, was very amused at this. He had his expression schooled to impassivity before Hermione could look at him. It wouldn’t do to incite her wrath.

Lily smiled tolerantly as Madam Pomfrey worked. After she quickly finished with Hermione and told her to relax since she wasn’t going to the library or classes. Lily noticed Harry’s poker face.

“You know Hermione, there’s no telling if you’re taking the same classes or if we have the same things your Hogwarts has,” Lily commented to a scowl.

Before she could go on, a familiar voice interrupted.

“That’s very true, Lily, and from what Professor Dumbledore has told me it’s likely but not assured.”

Harry looked up to see a tall woman wearing a tartan. Her hair was in a tight bun, and her face was stern. She had a no-nonsense air about her and not for the first time Harry thought that this was a woman that shouldn’t be crossed. He was pleased to see her and sat up.

“Professor McGonagall!”

McGonagall nodded, as if she expected Harry to recognize her.

“Mr. Potter. It seems that my double is similar to me.”

“Similar? It’s exact!”

She regarded him with a very well-known gaze that made him wonder if he had detention tonight or if he’d missed it last night. That look was too well known to him and generations of Hogwarts students.

“Very well, Mr. Potter. We shall see. Who am I, and what is my special ability?”

Harry shook his head slightly, a little unnerved. He felt like he was in the classroom again. For her part, Hermione had to stop herself from waving her hand in the air for permission to answer.

“Professor, you are the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor, and the Transfiguration Professor. Your animagus form is a silver tabby cat. You surprised Ron Weasley and me with it when we almost late for our very first Transfiguration lesson in our first year. You do not suffer fools gladly.” He glanced at her, debating his next statement then shrugged. “And apparently like to fleece your coworkers with bets.”

She nodded again, a small thin smile on her face at the last part.

“Some differences, I see. Yes to the first two. I am not the Transfiguration Professor, as there is plenty enough to be doing as the Deputy and Gryffindor Head. We have an excellent master in that post that has served for many years. Yes, that is my animagus form, but who is Ron Weasley?”

Harry and Hermione stared at one another. Ron wasn’t here?

“Um… Professor, Ron Weasley is a student at Hogwarts – our Hogwarts – and our closest friend. He’s been on all of our adventures over the years.”

“I see. No, I do not suffer fools gladly. A McGonagall will never do that. And I’ll thank you to keep that last part to yourself, Mr. Potter, and keep winning me Galleons. I suspect my counterpart would tell you the same thing.”

“Yes, Professor.” He acquiesced immediately before he thought about it. He might have imagined it, but it seemed that the woman’s face softened a tiny fraction. He wasn’t quite sure.

“I have come to look at you myself and inform you that you will be issued quarters with Lily Potter, who will be granted leave from her duties for the duration for this purpose. Due to your temporal origination we have to limit exposure until things settle. That will take a few days. Besides we have to figure out how to send you back. I suspect our counterparts are doing the same thing with your Lily Potter.”

Harry bowed his head. Lily grabbed for his hand and spoke to Professor McGonagall while Hermione got off her bed to hug him.

“Minerva, you don’t know yet. I don’t think I have a counterpart. Harry’s mother is… not with him and hasn’t been for most of his life.”

Shock splashed across the older woman’s face.

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Potter! I didn’t know. Oh, dear.”

Harry sniffed.

“Thank you, Professor but we need to get home as soon as possible. Voldemort killed my parents when I was fifteen months old and has tried every year for the last few years to kill me. Your version of Harry Potter is in danger, Hermione too. We have to find a way to exchange places before something happens.”

The Deputy Headmistress shared a look with Lily Potter, whose face was slack with the new revelations.

“I see that I need to inform the Headmaster at once.”

She excused herself and left to do just that. There was no conversation for the next few minutes until Madam Pomfrey came in with yet more potions for Harry and a few for Hermione. Both grimaced at the potions, Hermione more than Harry. Harry sighed. He was more used to it than she was and resigned to his fate. He peeked out of the corner of his eye to make sure there wasn’t another glass of buttermilk waiting for him and sighed again in relief when one didn’t reveal itself.

“Now, then,” Madam Pomfrey said after both teens had drank the potions and dealt with the terrible tastes. “Mr. Potter, there has been a bed prepared for you elsewhere. Get in it and don’t get out until tomorrow morning unless you want to be in that bed you’re in right now. The potions you’ve been given are going to pull energy from you to work.”

She stared at him until he nodded, then turned her attention to Hermione.

“You as well, Miss Granger. And no commentary,” as the young woman started to say something. “The library is off-limits for the next few days. You have minor dehydration and exhaustion, plus other things specific to you which need to be addressed in addition to the things the Headmaster found.” She glanced at Lily Potter for a nod, which Harry missed. Hermione blushed but didn’t say anything.

“Now, go! Find your beds and rest so I can check you tomorrow and make sure you’re both recovering. Out!”

 _Some things didn’t change,_ Harry thought as he was herded through the door. He wasn’t sure how many more changes he could take today. Beside him, Hermione was thinking roughly the same thing. Lily led them through back passages of the castle that looked familiar. In fact, if he’d had the Marauder’s Map he was sure that this path would be one of the hidden passages if not two or three. Apparently this Lily knew them well, too. She grinned at him after guessing what he was thinking.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

It was enough to prompt a tired smile from him. Somehow, he found comfort in that, and the thought of the Map made him think of his dad. If Lily was here, was James here, too? Harry hoped so. There were things that he wanted to say.

He was lost in his thoughts and tired enough to merely be putting one foot in front of the other when Lily’s voice brought him up short.

“Harry, we’re here.”

Lily muttered a password to the portrait of a knight placing a saddle on a griffin, which opened up after an interested glance at the pair with her. Hermione grinned at the obvious problems the knight was having with the griffin, who wasn’t interesting in any tack being used. They stepped through to a voice from inside, which was warm and inviting with a fire going in the fireplace.

“Lily, love, have you got Harry and Hermione with you? Their beds are ready.”

The silky voice was unmistakable and both of them stuttered to a stop in shock.

Severus Snape stood there with a welcoming smile on his face.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter Six_

  
  


Harry was literally speechless.

He hadn’t even given Snape a thought in between everything else. Apparently, neither had Hermione but at least she could express herself.

“Professor Snape? But what happened to your eyes? They’re brown!”

Brown?

Harry looked at the professor he hated the most, or at least this reality’s version. Sure enough, the inscrutable black eyes that he felt was always judging him and flaying away at him was gone. In their place was warm brown eyes. The hooked nose, dark hair and jaw was the same. So was the voice.

The next shock for him was when Lily walked up to him and kissed him square on the lips.

“Hello, Sev. We’re here, but Harry has had a long day and needs to rest. Hermione, too. Poppy plied them with potions and told them to rest.”

Severus grinned. Harry shuddered at the sight.

“And we both know Hermione won’t rest right away. Did she try to go to the library right off?”

“You know it.” They turned to see her glaring at them. Lily shrugged. “Well, you did. I can’t help it if both you and our Hermione do the same thing.”

Severus looked confused.

“’Our Hermione?’ What?”

Lily put her fingers over his lips.

“Suffice it to say for now that there was some kind of temporal event. This is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, but from somewhere or somewhen else.”

Blood drained from the man’s face, making it even more pale. The pieces dropped into place extremely quickly.

“But where is our Harry and Hermione? Are they okay?”

Lily sat down heavily on the couch and motioned to the teens to sit as well. Harry sat next to her.

“We don’t know yet. I’ve taken this Harry under my wing, and Hermione too by extension, because Lily Potter there is dead and has been for years.”

Severus flopped down in a very plush armchair. He scratched the tip of his nose.

“Oh, dear me. This is terrible.”

Harry shot him an incredulous look, which he noticed.

“What is it, Harry? You’ve been looking at me like I’ll bite your head off.”

“Well… Professor, I expect you to do just that, or be scathing at least. The Severus Snape I know is… well… not you.”

Hermione took up the description.

“Professor Snape – well, our Professor Snape – is one of the most foul, opinionated, biased, and judgmental people we’ve ever met. He wears all black, has greasy hair, and his eyes are black as sin. He torments Harry because he holds a grudge against his father and Sirius Black from their school days. Your presence and demeanor is a shock, to put it mildly.”

Lily and Severus glanced at each other.

“But he also fills a very important role in the war as a double agent against Voldemort as a Death Eater in his Inner Circle.”

She could see his further confusion as he spoke.

“Who is Voldemort and what’s a Death Eater?”

Harry started to answer that when a firm knock came from the door.

“Headmaster Dumbledore requests admittance,” the portrait reported.

“Let him in, Sir Keith.”

Dumbledore came in, politely thanking the knight and carrying the Sorting Hat.

“Lily, Severus! It’s good to see you both. Harry and Hermione, I’m glad I caught you before you bedded down for the night.”

Lily glanced at the Hat.

“What brings you here, Headmaster? Hello, Hat. It’s good to see you out.”

The Sorting Hat spoke up first as the headmaster placed it on the table.

“Yes it is, because _someone_ has a terrible stand for me. Fawkes has a better place than I do, and it gets boring listening to Albus all damn day. I never get to see the Castle anymore.”

“Well, you didn’t say anything to me about it.”

“How can I, when I couldn’t get a word in edgewise? Do you know you can talk more than a politician promised free money?”

“Now, Hat, surely it can be that bad. I merely point out things that others need to know or may not have considered in any event. Surely you know that said events can arise from the most innocent of happenstance, and we have to be on our guard to make sure that such doesn’t cause problems for the innocents in our society. I simply keep watch on those types of things to ensure that we operate smoothly from year to year. As a magical artifact with your many years of experience, I’m quite sure you’ve seen a glut of examples of just what I’m talking about and …”

The Sorting Hat interrupted with a loud moan, and Dumbledore gave him a hurt look.

“See what I mean? He can go for an hour before he breathes!” The brim shook in aggravation and it seemed that the eyes took in the glazed look of the younger two. “Hey, wake up!”

They jumped. Harry peeked at Hermione and saw a bit of pink on her cheeks. Lily looked at the Hat.

“Hat, what brings you here? Obviously it’s you that needed to be here and not the Headmaster.”

The rip in the fabric smiled at her.

“Now here’s a woman after my not-actually-here heart. Figures things out and gets to the point. I’m here to evaluate young Potter and Granger after their unexpected trip.”

“Evaluate? Not Sort?”

“Well, I could do a Sorting, but my Self in their reality says that both are Gryffindors.”

Hermione stood up suddenly, anguish on her face.

“Hat, please, can you communicate with your other Self and have him warn about the other Harry and Hermione? They’re in danger with Voldemort trying to kill my Harry! He won’t care if it’s the right Harry Potter or not. If she’s like me, if anything happens to Harry it will devastate her!” She sat down again, blushing furiously. Harry stared at her.

Lily mouthed to Severus, _‘my Harry?’_ He nodded, eyes gleaming.

“Miss Granger, to do that, I need to be on each of your heads. Potter first.”

Lily held out a hand to stop Hermione from grabbing the Hat.

“Hat, I have to ask you. Will Harry be safe there?” She glanced at the Harry sitting on her couch. “Either Harry?”

The tip drooped.

“No, Lily Potter, not without warning. That’s what I and my counterpart want to do.”

Dumbledore interrupted.

“Is there more that can be sent?”

The look the Hat gave him could be described as fulminating.

“Not when my counterpart can’t get a word in edgewise, either! Now zip it and let me work. I’m trying to get in contact.”

The Hat murmured to itself for a few minutes, while Lily offered the Headmaster tea. He graciously accepted and everyone took a seat. They wondered what the Hat was up to, since the grumbles didn’t provide much clue other than general irascibility.

“Ye gods, Dumbledore! What is your counterpart wearing?”

Everyone jumped at the shout and Harry perked up.

“Is it the bright yellow robes? With red and blue shooting stars running around with green tails? Or the lavender robes with some kind of paisley? Or the orange robes with… wait, what was that?”

“Green mistletoe,” Hermione muttered.

“Yeah, that. Ghastly.”

Everyone looked at Dumbledore. He shrugged, a bit defensively.

“Don’t look at me. All my robes are either black or gray. It’s cheaper,” he mumbled.

The Hat turned to Harry.

“Yes. It looks like he’s wearing squashed canaries with jam dropped everywhere. And that hat! Even the hat looks like that!”

Everyone looked at Dumbledore again. He sighed and took a sip from his tea, ignoring them.

“My counterpart is telling that Headmaster to get our Potter and Granger in the office. When that happens, one of you should put me on to communicate with them. Figure it out while I talk to Potter. Put me on your head, Potter! No time to waste!”

Harry stood up and put the Hat on his head, while the others discussed who was going to talk to the other side. He heard the familiar voice in his ear.

“Now, Potter, let me see – oh, my stars. You’ve been dealing with a lot of things, having you? Show me everything. I’ll keep what secrets need to be kept.”

_I don’t know what’s going to be common between sides. There’s no Voldemort here apparently._

“Hmmmmm...I’ll look at that in a moment. I’m looking at you. Oh my, yes. Bravery and cunning both. Why didn’t you choose Slytherin?”

The mental image came up of an eleven year old Draco Malfoy sneering away, and Harry’s lips thinned in irritation.

“Oh, I see. That one. Odd, indeed. Here, he’s a Ravenclaw.”

_What? Malfoy?_

“Yes, Potter, yes. On to other things. I see a hard childhood… Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no.”

Harry tensed, and the Hat noticed.

“I am sorry, Potter, but I must see.” Harry nodded, shaking the Hat on his head. “Have you told others about this atrocity?”

_I tried._

The Hat sighed. The reasons were there.

“A _basilisk? Salazar’s basilisk?”_

Harry winced at the shout in his head.

“Tom is… oh, my. This is terrible.”

_What?_

The Hat ignored him.

“Sirius Black, the Triwizard Tournament – that old thing – and the Order of the Phoenix? What is that Dumbledore _doing?”_

Harry couldn’t really say. He figured it was better to let the Hat complain about things Harry couldn’t do anything about now.

“Let me see this portal that brought you here, while I think about other things.”

Harry shrugged mentally and thought about what little he could remember. The Hat didn’t say anything but he got the impression that little bit was being examined closely. The next question surprised him with its suddenness and he jumped slightly.

“What’s this about a prophecy? Oh, my. You have a rough road to walk, don’t you?”

_That’s putting it mildly._

The Hat snorted.

“No need to get smart with me, Potter.”

_Sorry. I need help. Both Hermione and I do, and I don’t know what to do either here or there. I don’t know if she does either. There’s been too many people dead because of Voldemort._

“I can see that. You’ll get help.”

_How?_

The Hat trembled, and something hard rammed Harry on the forehead, right on his scar. He yelped and fell backward, sprawling on the floor. The Hat tumbled off his head. Harry shot a hand up to rub the sore spot and spared the Hat a nasty look but gasped when he saw a familiar pommel sticking out.

He gaped in surprise, then scrambled to his feet and grabbed the Hat. Harry pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Hat, to the surprise of the others in the room.

“Keep that with you, Potter. It comes from the other side and goes back with you. I’ve seen everything I need to see. Now, Granger, if you please.”

Dumbledore stopped her. His eye was wide, and even the eye patch seemed to express his astonishment.

“Harry, is that what I think it is?!”

He looked at the Headmaster.

“If you’re thinking that it’s the Sword of Gryffindor, it is. I used this sword in my second year to kill a seventy foot basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. One of the fangs impaled my arm and Fawkes had to cry into my wound to save my life.”

Silence all around. After a few minutes, Hermione spoke up.

“If this is a parallel reality, shouldn’t this have happened here, too?”

Dumbledore shook his head.

“No, Miss Granger. Neither the Chamber of Secrets or the Sword is known to us now, being lost to time. The last time the Sword was seen was during the time of Godric Gryffindor.”

Harry grimaced and rubbed the scar on his arm.

“I have no desire to go back into the Chamber and kill a basilisk that’s probably bigger now. I needed Fawkes’ help to do it. I don’t know how many roosters I’ll need to kill it anyway.”

Hermione hugged him.

“Don’t!”

An irritable throat-clearing sound came from behind them.

“Time’s wasting, people. Granger, put me on your head!”

When the Hat was on her head, everyone could hear a happy sigh.

_Are you all right, Hat?_

“I’m perfectly fine. Your mind is much more orderly than what I usually have to deal with. So much easier to deal with!”

_You’re welcome. What do I need to do?_

“Show me everything, especially what you know about this Voldemort?”

_Shouldn’t you have asked Harry about that?_

“I looked at what he had while I distracted him with other things.”

She agreed.

_I’ll have to remember to do that myself._

She thought about everything that Harry had told her about Voldemort and all the things that had happened to him. The Mirror of Erised, the Chamber, the Tournament, the people that had died. As much as she could remember. She cautioned the Hat that there was probably more that even she didn’t know. The Hat muttered in her ear while it worked.

“Except where you’re concerned his mind and self is much more guarded, possibly because of the abuse he suffered at the hands of those… people… he lives with.”

_ABUSE?_

“Don’t shout, I’m right here!”

_Show me what happened!_

“I can’t show you what another person’s mind has shown me…”

_Show me or I’ll use the Sword you gave Harry to cut you to pieces. It’s infused with basilisk venom now. Want to calculate your chances of surviving that? Then who will Sort the first years?_

“You’re scary,” the Hat shuddered. There was a crisp crackle of energy in her hair and the others looked at her.

_Where Harry is concerned, you’re bloody right. What’s it going to be, showing or shredding?_

“You’re definitely a Gryffindor. Easily smart enough for Ravenclaw, but a Gryffindor through and through.”

A mental growl answered the Hat’s musing.

“Fine! Look!”

A flood of memories cascaded into Hermione’s brain and she directed them into a mental walk-in closet, ordered and arranged to look over later. What she saw was enough to break her heart and cause tears to stream down her face. Someone started to raise the Hat, and she tugged it back on her head.

“I’m not done talking to the Hat!” Her growl made whoever it was step back quickly.

After a few more minutes as the Hat trembled more to hear the mental promises she was making to certain people and questions that she had to ask of it, she took it off. She gently placed the Hat on the table. Hermione grabbed Harry and hugged him as if she’d never let go.

Beyond them, there had been a discussion about who would talk to the other side and Lily volunteered.

“Put me on in private, Lily. There are things we need to discuss.”

Dumbledore frowned.

“Privately? Surely there’s no secrets here.”

“Private things that don’t concern you or your long crooked nose.”

Lily was mystified at the Hat’s request but took the Hat into her bedroom and closed the door anyway. The discussion faded away as she put the Hat on.

“Good. Lily, we need to talk. You need to watch out for both of them. They will need your help.”

_Of course, but why? What haven’t I been told?_

“Keep what I’m going to show you to yourself, even from him. She knows, but let him come to you. And sit down.”

She did, not liking the tone of the Hat’s voice.

_Okay, I’m ready._

Images flooded her mind, and as with Hermione, she diverted them to a space in her mind. Harry’s Dementor-fueled memory of his father and mother standing up to Voldemort and dying, the beatings at the Dursleys, Dudley’s bullying, the laboring he did as a young child, the cupboard under the stairs. Tears streaked down her face as she watched the years fly by. She saw the joy he had at attending Hogwarts get dampened by the treatment he received at the hands of the other Snape and various Professors in the DADA role. She caught glimpses of Remus, his clothes shabby and his face worn and the notices about Sirius escaping Azkaban. Other things went on and on.

It only took a moment and Lily was slack-jawed at the end.

_All of that happened to Harry? How did he survive it without James and me there?_

Even her mental voice was filled with tears. The Hat was introspective.

“He seems to have a bedrock formed by his experiences. That bedrock might have been formed out of hardships instead of love, but it seems to be no less stronger than your own. He has people that love him, even if he doesn't’ quite realize it.”

_He needs it._

The Hat sighed.

“Yes, he does. Do you know who you want to talk to on the other side? It can only be one person and that person has to both trustworthy and mentally strong.”

She thought. She didn’t know if the others on the other side were able to do that because she simply didn’t know all the differences or even if they existed.

_If it were someone here to trust with my secrets, I’d pick Filius._

“Then that’s what we’ll do there. My other Self is calling for him now.”

Lily wiped her face off and went back out into the front room with the Hat still on her head. She sat down by Harry and kissed his cheek. The hug she gave him was as long as the one Hermione had given him. The brim of the Hat brushed his head but they all ignored it.

“If any of you have anything to have Lily pass to the other side to Professor Flitwick, now’s the time. When I link with my other Self, she won’t hear you clearly.”

Hermione spoke up, with an apology to Sev.

“Trust Professor Lupin, I mean Remus and not Snape.”

Harry mumbled just loud enough for Lily to hear.

“And don’t let Professor Dumbledore distract you with the twinkle in his eyes.”

Lily snorted as he went on.

“My Cloak and the Map are both in my trunk, but don’t lose them. They’re all I have left of my parents and Sirius.”

“Anything else, sweetheart?”

Harry turned to look up at her, his green eyes begging.

“And if Harry knows Occlumency, then keep it up all the time in case Voldemort tries to invade his mind again. If not, don’t learn it from Snape or he’ll be mind-raped.”

Lily gaped at him.

“What??”

Harry didn’t elaborate, just held her gaze.

“Um, well… okay, then.”

“Also, mum, tell Professor Flitwick that Lily Potter wrote in her journals that he was her favorite Professor. I think he misses her still and she was one of his favorites. This is just strange to say that.”

She had to agree, especially since she’d done just that when she was in school and the thought of relaying a dead woman’s thoughts that were so much like her own was odd. Dumbledore looked at the redheaded witch.

“Are you ready, Lily?”

“Yes. Or at least I think so. I’ve never done this before.”

“Me, either! Here we go!” The hat said cheerfully before anyone could say anything. Everyone saw Lily Potter’s face go blank and her breathing settle. Oddly, there was a slight smile on her face.”

Everyone looked at each other after a few minutes of silence.

“Is something supposed to happen?” Harry asked.

Everyone shrugged, mystified. They sat back to wait.

Meanwhile, Lily was having the time of her life. This was something new and unexpected for her to learn about and she relished it.

“Now, listen up, in a moment I’m going to open the connection. Professor Flitwick is waiting, but only one of my Selves can control this connection and that will be me. This means that he doesn’t know who’s going to be talking to him. Don’t overload him. I will only be able to keep the connection open for a little while, so don’t dawdle.”

_I understand. Now hurry up!_

“Impatient, are you? I see where Harry gets it – either Harry.”

A mental raspberry hit the Hat, who chuckled.

“Connection is… open.”

There was a burst into her mind and her eyes widened.

“Hello?”

The voice was very familiar and she smiled mentally, sending a fond impulse.

_Professor? It’s me, Lily._

The shock was palpable.

“Lily?!?”

_It’s me, really. You’re still my favorite Professor. We don’t have a lot of time and I’ve gathered that I’m dead there. I’m sorry you miss me, well, the ‘me’ that was there. Harry and Hermione are here and they’re okay, but trying to make sense of the differences._

“We’ve figured out that there was a switch. The Harry we have here looks bigger and Hermione looks a little different, too.”

_My Harry has hazel eyes, not green?_

“That’s right. It’s something to get used to rather than that vivid green I remember from you – wait, are your eyes the same color as our Harry?”

She thought for a moment, then tried to send a mental image of what she saw in her mirror earlier in the morning.

_I sent you a picture of me. Did you get it?_

There was a pause and she got an impression of Flitwick wiping mental eyes.

“Yes, I got it, Lily. I am so glad to see you, even if it’s somewhere else that I can’t be. James?”

_James died years ago on an Auror raid._

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, Lily. I understand from Harry here that you and Severus have gotten together.”

_Yes, but I understand that Sev here and Severus there are very, very different._

“Yes, there was a misunderstanding, and well… it took a while to resolve.”

_Tell my babies I love them._

“I... will. I assume Harry and Hermione? They’re much closer than our pair. They’re making our betting pools go crazy.”

There was a raucous bit of mental laughter.

_Tell Minerva that your pair are quite close, even if Harry hasn’t woke up and realized that yet. I’m trying to get him to realize it._

The amusement took a downturn.

_He misses his mother, and while he’s here I will be taking care of both of them – him especially, if Hermione will let me. She forced the Hat into showing her how the Dursleys treat him. He believed her when she threatened to cut him to pieces with the Sword of Gryffindor._

“So that’s what happened to it. How did the Dursleys treat him?”

Rage suffused the link, and the half-goblin shrunk within his mental space. Lily didn’t realize that he was getting the images that the Hat had shown her. It took a few minutes of him trying to calm her down.

_I’m sorry, Professor._

“Call me Filius. I didn’t know about Harry’s treatment and I’ll be looking into it. You’re definitely Lily Potter.”

_I don’t know how much time I have in this link and I have to relay information._

“I’m listening.”

_First, there was a crystal of some sort that Professor Dumbledore used to find temporal energy around the kids. Oh, and what’s this about his robes?_

He sent her several mental images. She was appalled.

_Never mind. Ugh! Anyway, Harry says to trust Professor Lupin – Remus, a professor? – and not ‘Snape.’ Not Severus or Professor Snape, just Snape. Is he that bad?_

“He’s very strict.” Another mental image came through and she recoiled.

_Does he even smile?_

“Severus? Are you kidding?”

_When was the last time he got laid?_

Mental hilarity answered her.

“Oh, Lily. Never change. And thank you for the nightmare fuel.”

_Harry also says that ‘Snape’ shouldn’t teach my Harry Occlumency because he’ll mind-rape him. I taught him and Hermione that myself. Tell him to keep his shields up._

There was a mental nod, and she continued.

_Harry says to tell my Harry that the Cloak and the Map are both in his trunk, but don’t lose them. They’re all he has left of his parents and Sirius. I’m guessing Sirius is gone, too?_

Flitwick sighed.

“Yes, Lily. He was supposed to raise Harry have you and James – well, his parents – died, but he was framed and put into Azkaban without a trial. He was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange when Voldemort used a possession vision to lure Harry to a fight in the Department of Mysteries. It broke his heart.”

_Should I ask Sirius to come see Harry?_

“He’s alive there? Yes, probably. Harry never got to tell Sirius some things.”

Lily made a mental note.

_Hermione probably wants her books to be taken care of by her counterpart, but you probably knew that already._

“Oh, yes. In fact, I made that supposition. Now, Albus wants you to tell his counterpart to tune any diamond or graphite crystals to 247 zettacycles. Doing that may allow a connection to be made. Also watch out for static discharges. It may take a month to charge up properly, so we can’t do anything for at least a month. We will take care of your kids, especially from Voldemort, but we have to figure out what to do about the Grangers.”

She made more mental notes, then stopped.

_The Grangers? Hermione’s parents?_

“Yes, why do you ask?”

 _Here, they were killed in a car accident a few years ago_.

“Oh, dear. I’ll warn Hermione.”

_Filius, I don’t think we have much more time._

“I understand. Have your version of me charm a parchment to record the impulses and translate to a language matrix. Harry is a parselmouth, if you want security. In fact, it would probably be a lot quicker.”

_Harry’s a parselmouth? My Harry isn’t._

“Long story.”

_Oookay. Oh, and tell ‘Severus’ that one way or another I’ll be having words with him._

The tone was clear, and Flitwick pitied the Potions Master for a moment.

_And tell Remus I miss him. He’s alive here, but I don’t get to see him often._

“I will, Lily. Give our kids there plenty of hugs and kisses. Well, you know what I mean. We care about them and we’re working on getting them home. Hermione would never forgive us if she missed her exams.”

  
  


There was a pause.

“Oh, and tell Harry that several of the Slytherins in the Great Hall had bloody noses and ruptured nasal passages the exact moment he and Hermione left. I don’t know if that’s linked to this but it couldn’t hurt to mention. I won’t say who it was, but the elder Miss Greengrass performed a beautiful testicular bludgeoner charm right afterward that I had to put her in detention for. Harry can fill in the blanks.”

_I will, Filius. I have to go. I’m having trouble hearing and I think the connection is breaking._

“Okay, Lily. Be safe. We all love you and miss you, some more than others.”

The connection broke cleanly, and Lily blinked her eyes. She fell back on the sofa’s cushions for a moment and gasped, exhausted. Everyone looked at her worriedly as she sat up slowly.

“I’m okay. I’m okay, but I’m very very tired. I don’t know if I can get everything out,” a huge yawn escaped and she wavered on the couch before Harry caught her and pulled her back. Dumbledore looked at her from his chair.

“Just tell us the most important parts you can.”

“Filius said ‘247 zettacycles on diamond or graphite crystals and his counterpart needs to charm a linked parchment with parseltongue output. Apparently that language is suited for it. And Hermione used a ‘testicular blugeoner’ on an unnamed Slytherin.”

She fell asleep right then as the males winced as they looked at Hermione. She grinned at them.

After a moment, the Hat peered up at the Headmaster from Lily’s head.

“I’ve gotten enough, Albus. Let’s go.”

“But are you sure?” The tone was skeptical.

“Very. Now let’s get going. And take me around the Castle before you ram me on that knotty stand without dinner first!”

Severus snorted at that. Lily woke up enough to stand up to see them out.

“Er.. very well then. Off we go. Lily, Severus. We will all talk tomorrow. Good night.”

Dumbledore left swiftly, with the imprecations from the Hat trailing in his wake.

Severus grinned at the Headmaster’s problems.

“Well, you three. Come on. Beds are waiting.”

He showed Harry to one room, and gently shut the door behind him, suggesting in a low voice that he sleep. Hermione caught a glimpse of an incredulous expression on Harry’s face. She waited for the door to close and indicated that she wanted to talk to Lily. Severus nodded and left the room with the newspaper to give them privacy.

“You wanted to talk to me, Hermione?” Lily’s voice was soft as she yawned.

She didn’t answer right away, and Lily waited.

“He gets nightmares because of all the things that he’s been through. I’m worried that he will tonight too. I can usually help him, but I don’t know if I can tonight.”

Lily frowned sadly.

“If you hear it, then of course go to him. Are you dating?” The question was unexpected and it caught the younger woman by surprise.

“No…”

“You don’t sound too sure. Your Professor Flitwick wondered too. I think he’s very much in favor of it. My Harry and Hermione are, and I couldn’t be happier. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s about to pop the question soon.”

“What? But he’s my best friend and besides he’s got too much to worry about to think about dating much less… that.”

Lily wasn’t fooled when Hermione turned away with a blush. She smiled and hugged the young woman.

“You care deeply about my son – even if the young man in that room isn’t exactly _my_ son. And don’t deny it.”

“...Yes.” She couldn’t, not with Lily looking at her with a tired smirk on her face.

“He needs to rest and for us, it’s only midday. You really should relax too, because we both know he’s going to need you soon. Whether to calm his nightmares or to help him get out of whatever trouble he’s in or win a battle, he’ll need you and we both know it. You think about that and how much he means to you and vice versa, even if he’s too thick to realize it yet.”

Hermione didn’t answer. Lily slapped her thighs and stood up. She put her hand on Hermione’s shoulder and pointed to the other room.

“Rest. The two of you will need to talk with us enough tomorrow, and you’ll need to rest.”

The younger woman was deep in thought and didn’t answer as Lily left to find Severus.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter Seven_

  
  


It had been a rough rest for Harry. Granted, he was at breakfast when this portal thing had hit him and so should have been rested from the night before.

“’Should have’ didn’t always correspond to ‘was,’” he muttered to himself. Whatever that magic was that hit him, plus the pain when Hermione had landed on him, plus the treatment all combined had really did a number on him. A quick _tempus_ charm told him that he’d been tossing and turning on the admittedly comfortable bed for about ten hours. Harry gave it up for a bad job and decided to look around. He must have actually slept, but it didn’t feel like it.

He was in a small room with a bed and a compact chest of drawers. Maybe Hermione had something similar. For all he knew, she was already in the library. Somehow that didn’t seem to make sense. She’d been pretty protective of him earlier, which confused him. It wasn’t like her, he thought, but it was still Hermione next to him. He’d have to think about it a little more later once he figured out what they had found themselves in this time.

“Time travel? Parallel universes? That sounds like something in Star Trek.”

Harry knew that with Magic, things could be strange. At least, to his Muggle-raised sensibilities. This was just one more thing. Time travel he could accept, having done it with Hermione to save Sirius and Buckbeak.

He was getting hungry, since his breakfast had been interrupted. He wasn’t sure if he could face that strange Professor Snape out there. A genial Snape? Dressed in colors? Smiling?

Harry didn’t know that Snape was even capable of smiling.

His mother, which was another thing and the oddest, really. If she was here, then where was his father? And why was she so loving with Snape? Did that mean this reality’s Harry was fathered by…

The young wizard simply couldn’t think about it.

In any regard, sitting in here stewing wasn’t getting him any answers. He had to go out there and get them. Or ask Hermione later, which was the easier thing. That thought made him snort in amusement as he got up and left the bedroom.

The first sight he saw was Lily as she put a drink of something fizzy on the small table in front of the couch. Hermione was there and had her nose stuck in a book which he saw was _Hogwarts, A History._ He sighed. Some things apparently didn’t change. There was no sign of Snape.

Lily looked up and saw Harry. Her smile was huge and welcoming, and he couldn’t resist going over to her to hug her. The smile faltered a bit. She’d already told Dumbledore earlier about her mental visit with Professor Flitwick yesterday and was going to go over it with Harry and Hermione a little later. This looked like it was needing to be put off for a bit.

“Harry?”

He let go and plunked down in the recliner. Harry had to tell himself that this wasn’t really his mother, that she was dead, and he wasn’t really at Hogwarts. For all the truthfulness in those statements, none of it mattered when he admitted that the hug helped him in so many ways.

A soft hand on his shoulder interrupted his musings, and he looked up into emerald eyes.

“Harry? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just all the differences. It’s jarring.”

“I bet. Want to talk about the differences?”

He was quiet for a moment as Hermione looked over at him.

“Harry, you really should. You might reveal something that can help us get home.”

He returned her look.

“Have you mentioned anything?”

She shook her head, the brown hair moving in waves.

“No, not really. I was waiting for you, since I didn’t really rest either. Lily and I have been talking this morning.”

“I didn’t, either. What did you talk about?”

Hermione reddened a bit, but answered him quietly.

“Girl stuff. You know, like…”

“That’s okay. I don’t really need to know,” Harry interrupted quickly, a bit embarrassed. The others smirked at each other.

Harry stood up and paced for a bit. To the others, he seemed to be trying to arrange his thoughts and decide what to say first. Lily smiled, a bit sadly.

“Harry, you look so much like James with that look on your face. He paced like that, too. Usually when he was in trouble and trying to figure out how to get out of it before sleeping on the couch.”

Harry stopped suddenly.

“That’s a good enough place to start than any, I guess.”

He sat down next to Hermione, and unconsciously drew her close for comfort while he decided to phrase his question. The women traded looks that he missed.

“I don’t remember my mum because she died when I was very young, along with my dad. I’ve mentioned that. I still missed them growing up and having you here now is something that I’ve wanted for practically all my life. I don’t have a problem calling you ‘Mum,’ because I feel like you _are._ I can’t explain this connection I feel here,” he thumped his chest with his right hand, “and I don’t want to try to.”

Lily leaned forward to take his hand.

“I feel it, too. As far as I’m concerned, you’re my son. You were born on July 31, 1980 to James and Lily Potter. Sirius Black was named your godfather and Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew your honorary uncles.”

“Then mum, where’s dad?”

Lily’s face sagged.

“Harry, your dad was killed in an Auror raid six years ago. He and his team was trying to catch a Dark wizard that had been Muggle baiting and taking young women for nefarious means,” she didn’t go into details and Harry didn’t ask, “And something went wrong. A portkey ward slammed down on them while several other wizards attacked his team. By the time they broke the ward, a quarter of the team was dead. Among those was your dad. It was determined later that James saved the lives of the rest by directly engaging the enemy and drawing fire toward him. It still hurts, especially on his birthday.”

Harry took a shaky breath. He’d hoped to meet his dad too, but that wasn’t going to happen. His eyes went toward a picture on the bookshelf. Among the pictures of James and Lily was an equal amount of pictures of Severus and Lily. The one that had caught his eye was a picture of Severus Snape and Lily at a picnic. Lily followed his eyes.

“You’re wondering about Sev?”

He nodded silently, his eyes returning to hers.

“A couple of years later, I was asked out on a date. It wasn’t something I expected, nor did I have any expectations or had any thrust on me. Sev and I grew up together, and even though we were in separate Houses in school, he always cared for me. When you were born, I thought about asking him to be your godfather, but he was already godfather to Draco. The two of you grew up together. Sev loved you anyway and called you his honorary godson.”

Harry and Hermione shared a look. That was definitely a change! Lily noticed.

“I take it your Sev isn’t? You said something about...”

Harry merely shook his head, not giving details. Hermione spoke up.

“Neither Severus or Draco are… well… not the best of friends.”

Lily raised an eyebrow and decided to move along.

“Several months later, we decided to be exclusive but Sev knows that I’m not ready for marriage yet. He still takes care of me when I need it, and well, we’re comfortable with where we are. Maybe in the future but not right now.”

“Um…”

Lily smiled.

“Harry, I can figure out that it’s a big shock, but Severus will help you with anything you ask. He’s a Potions Master if that helps, youngest in history. Try him and establish a relationship with him while you’re here and maybe it’ll help you with your Sev when you get home.”

“I didn’t think of that, but at home Severus Snape is cold as ice.”

“That’s hard to imagine, truthfully. I know you mentioned other things, but it’s still hard.” Lily said.

Harry shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“Harry? Tell me about your life. The good and bad parts. I feel like I need to know. If you can come over, then this Voldemort can too.”

Lily’s voice was soft, coaxing information from him. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk about life with the Dursleys, especially with Hermione there, but Lily had a point. He didn’t want to lose his mother to Voldemort again.

“Harry, the Hat showed me what the Dursleys did. It’s not your fault. You know I’m here for you.”

Lily’s voice sharpened. She knew about it from what the Hat had shown her, but knew it would be best to pretend not to for now.

“The Dursleys? My sister Petunia and her misanthropic pig of a husband Vernon? You lived with them and those three piglets of theirs?”

Harry’s head came up. Three? Dudley wasn’t enough, so they had two more? His face apparently showed something, because Lily squinted at him.

“What?”

Harry shrugged.

“My version only had Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley, who’s easily three of me.”

Lily regarded him coolly, thinking again about what the Hat had shown her and trying very hard to rein in her temper.

“And I assume they didn’t treat you well?” She got up and kissed his forehead to reassure him.

“Ah… no.” He felt trapped, and stared at Hermione. She held him close and started talking.

“Lily, after they got him at fifteen months, they put him in a cupboard to sleep in until he was eleven. They made him cook, clean, and garden from age four or five – treated him like a slave. Dudley would beat him up if he and his gang could catch him, and he was fed table scraps if at all. If he did better in school than Dudley, he was locked into the cupboard without food for days or weeks at a time. Once the Order told them that they would be watching them more closely, they put him in the smallest bedroom with locks on the door. They fed him through a cat flap. There’s more, but I really don’t want to say it.”

Lily was steadily looking more and more murderous as Hermione went on and Harry drooped more and more. She got up and paced almost exactly how Harry had done earlier. He regarded her out of the corner of his eye and with more than a bit of fear when she started cursing under her breath. Things started rattling on the walls and wind blew from somewhere, whipping Hermione’s hair around her face. Harry had to grab for his glasses.

It was this scene that Severus and Dumbledore walked into, narrowly missing a vase smashing into the door frame. Both ducked quickly with wide eyes and looked around quickly to find the danger. They found Harry huddled on the couch with Hermione covering him as Lily raved about her baby being hurt and what was going to happen. Some of the things spoken of made both of them wince and shift protectively to cover various body parts.

Severus looked at the Headmaster, who looked back.

“Well, don’t gape at me with your mouth hanging open! I didn’t get this old by strolling into the path of a pissed-off redheaded woman without backup or wine and I don’t have wine with me!”

So saying, Albus pushed Severus directly at Lily and hid behind him. The hook-nosed professor stumbled as he righted himself and stiffened when Lily cast a wild eye at him. He spoke carefully with his hands held out, not wanting to find out in person about some of the things he heard her say.

“Lily? What happened?”

She started sobbing, and Severus folded her into his arms to hold her. Dumbledore poked his head up from behind a table, then stood up slowly. He waved his wand and straightened the pictures and knickknacks that had been knocked askew in Lily’s tantrum. Mugs of hot chocolate appeared on the coffee table. Lily’s favorite mug appeared with a shot of brandy in the hot chocolate.

Dumbledore debated if he would need straight brandy in his mug when he heard whatever it was that set her off like that.

After a bit of waterworks, she told them what she’d heard then gulped down the hot chocolate. Dumbledore refilled it. Severus had flinty eyes but controlled himself.

“Harry, I am so sorry. Neither Lily or I have had anything to do with Petunia for many years, not after the things they’ve said about our way of life.”

Harry nodded and was about to speak when Hermione spoke up.

“Oh, don’t worry, Sev. I’ve got _a few things on my list_ to do when we get back.”

He shifted when he heard her tone, but Hermione held him tight. Severus regarded her very carefully and Lily smiled.

“Good.” His voice was quiet but he didn’t dare say more than that in case he set Lily off again.

Dumbledore decided to change the subject.

“Miss Granger, do you address Professor Snape with that familiarity at ‘home,’ for lack of a better term?”

“No, Headmaster, but neither you or he are anything like your counterparts.” She pointed at Severus. “He is much more likable, and you are much less flamboyant and most likely no less powerful. To call him ‘Sev’ helps to distinguish between the two. And frankly, it fits. That, plus the of the expression on Professor Snape’s face if I call him ‘Sev’ after this is hilarious.”

“I see. And what of me?” He was curious.

“Sir, you’re still ‘Headmaster.’ There’s nothing else we can really say.”

“Most likely the best course of action. If we can fit you into classes – which I’m still not sure we can – please remember to use formal address. We should probably find one of your friends – well, counterparts to one of your friends – to interact with and keep everyone updated.”

They looked at each other and came to an immediate agreement.

“Neville Longbottom.”

“Good choice. He grew from a shy boy to a strong young man. Loyal, too, if any of ‘our Harry’s’ pranks are any indication.”

Severus spoke up.

“Oh, don’t remind me. I’ve had my share of pranks pulled on me. But I do thank you for that measure of trust, even if my counterpart seems to be less than jolly.”

“’Jolly’ is definitely not a word I’d use for Professor Snape, Sev. Harry might stay with formal address out of habit. They really, really don’t get along.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. For a moment, the expression was so eerily like Professor Snape that the younger pair shuddered.

“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get used to that,” Harry muttered.

“Do what you can, sweetheart. He’s really a kind man,” Lily said, having mostly calmed down.

“I’m trying, but the image of a man asking me on the first day ever of class what the difference between monkshood and wolfbane, where to find a bezoar, and what asphodel and wormwood makes is hard to get rid of.”

Severus blinked.

“He asked this of a first year? Are you serious?”

“No, that’s my godfather.” It slipped out before Harry could stop it, and Lily snorted. Harry hurried on before they could get lost down the rabbit hole of Sirius and his exploits.

“I can still remember the little speech he gave on that first day.” Harry cleared his throat and deepened his voice as much as he could to sound like Professor Snape. Hermione rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

Hermione grinned at the look on Severus’ face. Lily was laughing at that expression, and even Dumbledore was amused.

“He really says that? Really? And he’s teaching?” Severus gasped. Harry nodded.

“Yep. Brilliant Potions Master, but terrible teacher.”

Lily giggled. “Sev, tell him the rest of it.”

The Potions Master didn’t seem too fond of the order, but sighed.

“Harry, that’s almost word for word what I say, except for the ‘not believing and dunderheads’ parts.”

“If you do use that particular speech, you need to remember to have a sneer on your face to do it correctly.”

Severus shook his head.

“I don’t know if I can use it anymore now that you did that.”

Dumbledore was nonplussed at what Harry was saying. It was hard to imagine his Potions Master like that but then again, he couldn’t imagine what his erstwhile students where going though with the changes that they were seeing. He made his apologies and stood up to leave, claiming more work to do.

“Parchment work is never done, even with Minerva’s help. I’m still debating on introducing you to the school.” So saying, he left.

Lily looked at the others, deciding it was time to change the subject.

“Who’s up for tea?”


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter Eight_

  
  


Dumbledore sat in his office. He hadn’t been completely truthful about the parchment work, but he had to return to make an appointment. This person was never late and it wouldn’t do to be elsewhere. This was especially so since he was the one to request the meeting. The Headmaster set out two glasses of firewhiskey on his desk with the bottle exactly halfway between them.

He knew he needed help with this particular problem. While he knew he possessed vast amounts of knowledge, Dumbledore wasn’t too proud to think that he knew everything. Earlier he’d sent a message flaming off with Fawkes to someone. That person knew more about this phenomena than he did.

On the heels of that thought, there was a flutter of wings at his window. Dumbledore turned to look as an over-sized raven with gray wingtips stepped in. It gazed at him with a perturbed air.

“Prompt as always, Bruce.”

The raven gracefully descended to the floor. There was a pause and the raven became a large man with gray hair. His dark eyes regarded the other wizard.

“Something you need to learn sometimes.”

“Maybe, but you know a dramatic entrance has its uses sometimes.”

“Yeah, but other times it’s downright irritating like those wards around the castle.” The animagus saw the waiting drinks and grinned. “You’re up to something, as always.”

Dumbledore clutched his chest theatrically.

“Me? Never. I’m always pure of mind, pure of heart, pure of…”

“Pure dragonshite, too. How many shovels have you worn out by now? Wait, you’d make the house elves do it, wouldn’t you? Shame on you.” They toasted each other.

The first shots went down without fanfare and Dumbledore refilled them without delay.

“I do have a problem that dropped in this morning that I might need help with.”

The other man looked at him with interest.

“ _You_ need help, eh? This ought to be good. I’m listening. Not saying I’ll help yet.”

“It involves time and dimension travel.” Seeing the man’s skeptical glance. “No, not me! I’m not about do what I did again.”

“So not you personally. Got any witnesses – credible witnesses, Albus?”

Dumbledore motioned to the Sorting Hat. Bruce grinned.

“That’s better than you usually come up with, you old coot.” He turned to address the Hat. “So what’s on your mind, you ancient moldy excuse for millinery?”

The Hat shook itself.

“’Mind,’ he says. Shouldn’t you be flapping around cawing at whatever shiny things catch _your_ mind?”

Bruce roared with laughter.

“So has Albus found a better hat stand yet?”

The Hat snorted, which was answer enough.

“I didn’t think so. Shame on you, Albus.”

The Headmaster rolled his single eye and sighed over the Hat’s chuckles.

“Now that you’ve followed the tradition of insulting each other and me, can we get to business?”

Bruce held out his glass first for another refill and Dumbledore refilled it with a grumble.

“I can’t help it if you put out the good stuff, Albus, not that I wouldn’t notice if you try some rotgut. Now what’s your problem?”

The Headmaster put the bottle away pointedly while his guest snickered.

“This morning, two students dropped out of a portal exactly like the one John Witherroot used all those years ago.”

Bruce’s interest was peaked. He regarded the other man intently as he silently summoned a refill from the bottle now in Dumbledore’s desk. The Headmaster glared at him and Bruce grinned at him.

“The one that tried to use a time portal to kill you?”

“The very same. You can imagine my consternation when I saw that again.”

“What exactly are your students doing here?”

“Well, that’s the problem. They’re not exactly _my_ students. They belong to another Headmaster Dumbledore and another Hogwarts.”

It didn’t take long for the other man to add it all up.

“Well, damn. That makes things interesting and I don’t mean in a good way.”

“And after using _Legilimens,_ with permission, I was able to see that these two come from a time of war against a very, very powerful Dark wizard. And well, there’s other things, but suffice it to say that four students, our two and their two got switched. Our two are in mortal danger while they’re in the wrong reality.”

“Which two students?”

“Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.”

“Well, damn. Trouble finds them anywhere, eh?”

Dumbledore sighed.

“It seems that is a constant if you bear those names no matter where you are. There’s still more.”

“More, really? Kids have enough to be going on with and there’s more?”

“Yes. This new Harry Potter lost his mother and father to this Dark wizard as a baby and grew up without them in an abusive household.”

“Oh, boy. I bet seeing Lily here was a shock and a half.”

“Very. Poppy told me last night after they went to bed that when he saw her he just stopped breathing for a bit. Of course, this meant that Lily took over to see to him after she found out what his life had been like. Mothers will be mothers especially when she found out what had happened to him.”

“Well, that makes sense considering how Lily is. How much stuff got broken, I’m wondering now. What about Hermione? This Hermione?”

“Like her counterpart, she’s very intelligent. You can see it in her eyes. Her mind is even more organized and I dare say there’s a lot more spell knowledge.” Dumbledore snorted. “And she knocked their version of Draco Malfoy out. Hell of a right cross. I have to ask our Hermione about that, if we can get her back.”

“Well, damn. Scary smart and can take care of herself. I think I might like this girl.”

“And she loves Harry, even if they haven’t admitted it to each other yet.”

“Well, damn.” Bruce reflected that he seemed to be saying that a lot today. “Think we need to point them in the right direction? You’re really a big softie at heart.”

“I think Lily’s got that well in hand.”

“Too bad James couldn’t be here though.”

“I’d agree. James was a good man.”

They stilled, in respect. After a moment, Bruce ventured a question.

“How’s he taking that, being here, I mean?”

“Harry doesn’t really say as much about it, but it’s easy enough to tell. He doesn’t like it and he’s worried about his counterpart and Hermione’s counterpart, too. And frankly, he’d know firsthand about the danger, plus be better equipped to handle it.”

“I bet.”

“There’s another thing – this Harry is much more powerful than our Harry. That’s most likely because of the way he was raised. Very tough upbringing. Poppy says his magical core is twice as large. For some reason there’s a binding on him, but she’s left it in place for now.”

“Hmmm…. Maybe I can use that power to locate the time eddies. Magical cores resonate.”

“Now?”

“No time like the present, no pun intended.”

“Let’s go. I’ll introduce you. Oh, and don’t mention any of my parchment work.”

“As if you don’t make Minerva do as much as you can shove off on her. You better give her a good birthday present. Maybe a month-long stay at a spa over the summer.”

“… You know that’s a good idea. I don’t know why I never thought of that before.”

Shaking his head at the Headmaster, Bruce lead the way out.

  
  


|---====OOOOO====---|

  
  


Severus had already eaten lunch and left to give his afternoon classes, leaving Lily, Harry, and Hermione alone. Lily was cuddling Harry to her and kissing his forehead, trying to give him the love that he didn’t grow up with while Hermione sat on the other side. She was rubbing his knee. There wasn’t any conversation in the room at all, save for the portrait announcing another visitor.

“Lily, the Headmaster is here with a guest.”

“Let them in.”

Dumbledore came in, and Lily reluctantly stood up to greet her guests. Her eyes widened.

“Bruce?”

The other man smiled and held his arms open for a hug which she gladly walked into. It had been a long time for the old friends.

“Lily. It’s always good to see you even if I don’t get to see you often enough.”

They broke apart, and the animagus looked at the young pair on the couch. They stood up. Bruce offered his hand to Harry, sizing him up, then kissed the knuckles on Hermione’s hand which made her blush.

“Albus has told me most of what happened and your circumstances. I have some expertise in fourth, fifth, and sixth dimension magics. I’m not bloody stupid enough to do seventh through eleventh dimensions. The physics makes my brain hurt.”

Hermione’s eyes widened.

“So there’s magical differential equations and calculus?” Her eyes lit up.

“Among things. There’s a lot of this in our arithmancy, but you might be coming up on it later.”

“I read ahead a bit. It seems interesting.”

Harry groaned and everyone looked at him.

“This is already making my head hurt.”

Bruce glanced at the Headmaster with a wide smile.

“Yep. That’s Mr. Potter and Miss Granger, even if they’re away from home now.”

Harry looked up at the old man, confused. Bruce noted the green eyes so like Lily.

“And you’re definitely Lily’s boy, if not this Lily.”

Lily looked at the Headmaster. Her expression was the same one Harry imagined he’d get if he didn’t clean his room or something.

“Albus, what brings you back already? I thought you had parchment work that needed doing.”

The headmaster looked at the other man, his face rueful. Bruce held his hands up, obviously denying any involvement in the question.

“Lily, we would like Harry and Hermione to come back to the Great Hall and let Bruce tap into their magical cores to try to link to a spacetime location for their reality. It might not be the most comfortable thing either of you have experienced, but it would help us a lot.”

“Bruce?”

The animagus sighed.

“And it’ll have to be done as quick as possible before it completely fades away. If it fades away too much, then they’ll be stuck here without any way home.”

The room got very quiet indeed. Harry spoke up after a moment.

“You mean, we’d have to stay here?”

Dumbledore nodded.

“And there would be no guarantees that things are the same here as far as scholastic achievements, job prospects, people you know or don’t know… many things.”

Harry agreed. He could see that it was a potential challenge.

“On the other hand, Headmaster, at least I have time with my mother.”

“True. We need to get moving. Time’s wasting. Albus, we will need somebody else good in Arithmancy, maybe two.”

“I know just the people. I’ll meet you there.”

Dumbledore hustled out, leaving Bruce to talk with the three left.

“Lily, I may need you there too. I need a linkage to Harry – well, both Harrys honestly – and who’s better than his mother?”

“His wife and children.” Hermione spoke up quickly, then blushed.

Lily smirked, exchanging amused glances with Bruce.

“Why, Harry, I didn’t know! Why didn’t you tell me I had grandchildren and at my age? Do they have green eyes and bushy brown hair? You have pictures, right?”

Now Harry’s red face rivaled his friend but he didn’t notice the little smile on her face. Lily turned her face away from Harry and winked at Hermione. Bruce cleared his throat while Dumbledore laughed.

“As much as I enjoy taking the mickey out of people, we do need to get to work. Let’s get to the Great Hall.”

They left, but as they were walking Harry reached out to grab Hermione’s hand. Lily saw it and smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter Nine_

  
  


Draco Malfoy knew something was not right. First that very odd light show in the Great Hall, and Potter and Granger got shuffled off to Madam Pomfrey’s tender mercies. Then absolutely no word of them since then. Even the Weasley twins weren’t saying anything if they knew. They traded in pranks and verified gossip but there wasn’t a peep to be heard from them. He didn’t know what to make of that data. Or rather, non-data.

Then, Lily Potter hides and her classes are canceled. Granted Muggle Studies wasn’t as important as some other subjects, but she was popular and one of his favorite teachers. To be fair, she was popular among the male students but aside from her looks they respected her brains. Her temper was a sight to behold and they tread carefully. He and the other two got along pretty well, although he often wondered why Granger wasn’t in Ravenclaw with him instead of Gryffindor with Potter.

It was a common question.

Then there was the Hat. He’d heard those unmistakable tones coming from the hallways and wondered what the Hat was doing out of the Headmaster’s office. There weren’t any firsties being Sorted now. It was long past that event and classes were well in session. He didn’t think the Hat stayed anywhere but the office and away from the children.

It was all very odd, and he didn’t like this kind of odd.

Now, he had a summons and written permission to be out of classes for the day. Draco decided that if he wanted to find out what was going on, he might as well go. Besides it was a summons from the Headmaster and he didn’t want to get into trouble.

When he got to the Great Hall, he saw several professors: Dumbledore, Vector, and Flitwick. As Arithmancy was his favorite subject, he immediately went to Professor Vector’s side. She looked at him.

“Draco! I’m glad you made it quickly. We’re going to need your help.”

“Of course, Professor. What exactly is going on? There’s been a lot of odd things here that don’t make a lot of sense.”

“Tell me about it.”

As he thought about that strange comment, she lead him over to the Headmaster who looked him over quickly.

“Good, Mr. Malfoy. Come with me. You’re going to need to keep things you see here in confidence for a bit.”

That was definitely not expected. What was going on here? Draco was getting more confused by the minute.

The Headmaster walked to the side of the room that he hadn’t looked at yet, and he was surprised to see Potter… except he looked different, somehow. Professor Potter was with him, of course, and holding on to him for dear life. He saw Granger too. She also looked different, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe a little taller? He started to say something, when she looked up at him and her eyes narrowed.

He stopped out of instinct. That look was piercing and he was not sure he wanted to get closer.

“What are you doing here, ferret?”

Her voice was venomous. Draco’s eyes went wide, having never heard that tone from her before. He never wanted to hear it again, either. The surprise he felt made it hard to get out a reply.

“What?”

He groaned mentally. That was definitely not like him.

“Slytherin has to sneak in and make things worse?”

He stared at her. Slytherin? What?

Mrs. Potter poked her and pointed to his tie. It showed his Ravenclaw colors. Her eyes went wide and her face paled. He looked at the older woman with his confusion evident, who sighed.

“Apparently we found another temporal difference. Draco, bear with us and we will explain as much as we can in a moment.” Mrs. Potter’s voice sounded resigned.

What? Temporal?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Potter stand up and approach him. He was wary, considering how Granger had just bitten his head off, but turned slowly to look at him. It didn’t take long for him to decide that he needed to find a word other than ‘odd’ to think.

Potter was surely shorter. The last time they had met, they stood eye to eye. There was some kind of scarring on his forehead and the eyes… they looked exactly like Mrs. Potter. He didn’t recall Potter’s eye color being that vivid at all. In fact, he didn’t remember that cool mistrust in his old friend’s eyes _at all._

“Potter – Harry? What happened to you? What is going on here?”

When in doubt, ask. Draco figured that was better than nothing.

“Malfoy. Why are you in Ravenclaw colors?”

Harry’s voice was as cool at the look in his eyes, and that worried him. He started to answer when the Headmaster interrupted smoothly.

“That would be because he was Sorted into Ravenclaw at age eleven. He was disappointed since you and he, well our Harry and he, struck up a friendship with you and Miss Granger on the train to the castle and rode the first year boats together. With himself in a different House, he wasn’t able to follow through as much as any of you would have liked but the three of you were as thick as thieves – so to speak.”

Harry and Hermione were astounded. Malfoy in Ron’s role? What?

Since the looks of confusion had popped up on all three faces but for different reasons, Lily explained.

“Draco, this is not your old friends Harry and Hermione. They are unwilling visitors from another time and reality. Harry, you and Draco practically grew up together and Hermione fell in like a hand in glove. Neville, too, but you’ll have to meet with him later.”

His eyes widened as pieces fell into place. He caught a glimpse of the lightning bolt scar and gaped. Questions popped up and he shivered.

“And that’s why you haven’t been seen recently? You don’t know what’s different or what’s the same? And you need to find out what happened and how or if you can get home? And you’re not my old friends at all?”

Harry raised an eyebrow. Hermione asked a question of her own.

“You didn’t get knocked out by a right cross? Crabbe and Goyle wasn’t with you?”

He stared at her.

“Why would I be getting into fistfights? Never! And why would I have anything to do with those Neanderthals?”

He was getting befuddled, for sure. What kind of idiot would he be? He saw the other teens share a glance.

“And who would have punched me, anyway?”

Granger grinned crookedly.

“Well… me.”

He gaped at her. Potter snorted.

“A thing of beauty it was, too. You… well your counterpart in Slytherin is a bigoted, nasty, awful person, and well… if the school had seen it, she wouldn’t have to buy another butterbeer for years.” He shrugged as Draco gaped at him, aghast.

“Wait, what?”

Draco sat down on a bench, obviously trying to assimilate this information and finding that it didn’t fit into any neat boxes. He looked up at Harry.

“You’re not pranking me again, are you?”

“Cross my heart. I’ve never met you – well, **this** you – and my pranks on Malfoy are more… involved.”

The blond looked at the pair, seeing the irritation that they tried to hide for his sake.

“Thank you. I think.”

Harry looked at Hermione’s expression and decided to try something.

“Malf – I mean, Draco. What was the first thing that you said to me when we met for the first time?”

“Wow. That’s been as a baby. The first thing I remember is asking if you wanted to help me nick a fresh apple pie.”

Harry raised an eyebrow.

“I assume there’s a story there?”

Lily overheard.

“I’d say so. I’d just made the pie to take to the Longbottoms for Frank who’d asked me for one, and found it missing when I came back for it. It took me a few minutes to find two eight year old boys sitting behind the house with the remains of that pie. Narcissa and I was _very_ creative in our punishments, although Frank found the whole thing hilarious when I told him what happened. It took both of you two years to even look at an apple pie after that. Well, Draco and Harry, since I don’t know if you did the same thing.”

Harry shook his head.

“No. At eight years old, I’d already been cooking and cleaning for the Dursleys for three years. I very rarely got to eat what I cooked unless it was scraps after they finished and I was cleaning up. Apple pie was out of the question.”

They stared at him in shock. Fire sprouted up in Lily’s eyes again and Draco’s expression was thunderous. Hermione noticed.

“We’ll talk later, Draco, but be patient. We’re not used to a friendly Draco Malfoy. Usually we’re being hexed in the back by Malfoy, being called ugly names like mudblood or having to deal with general plots against us. Slytherin doesn’t have a good reputation.”

Draco’s mouth fell open.

“What kind of place do you come from?? And how did I end up in Slytherin?”

“Long story,” Hermione sighed.

“Usually punctuated by the phrase ‘when my father hears of this’ at various times,” Harry grunted. Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Wait, Harry. Hermione. What does my father have to do with any of this? He’s a world-famous philanthropist with other things to do than concern himself with Hogwarts.”

Harry’s brain locked up at this thought, and after a glance at Hermione he could see that she apparently felt the same way. Draco pondered this reaction and sighed.

“I know. Long story and later.”

They nodded, not knowing what else to say to this.

“Harry, how about you and I get together with Hermione and list out all the changes? I’m sure between us we can think of something.”

Harry snorted. They looked at him, mystified.

“Sorry, you two. Hermione did most of that already.”

Draco raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, really? Can I see?”

Hermione looked at Harry, the silent question passing between them. The other eyebrow raised to join its brother.

“We’re just not sure yet, Draco. We’re having trouble reconciling a lot of differences, and one of them is your demeanor. It’s just so…”

“Odd? Strange? Unexpected? Different? Unsettling?”

“And more,” Harry muttered, although the other two could hear him. Draco sighed.

“Well, I won’t push since I’m pretty sure I’d have a lot of trouble handling it if the situation was reversed.”

A large shadow fell over the trio, and they looked up to see Bruce regarding them.

“You’ll be glad to know that I’ve been standing here for the last few minutes casting spells at the four of you,” nodding at Lily, “since two of you are from this reality and two aren’t. The parchment has been filling up very quickly and we’ve had to replace the quills twice. I imagine it’s like classroom notes in Lily’s classes.”

Everyone looked at him. Lily was starting to look a bit irritated at the joke and he hurried on to explain.

“Before I get ripped to shreds, I’ll say that the temporal difference – and we need a better word than ‘temporal’ anyway – is helping to pinpoint where Harry and Hermione call home.”

“Okay…” Harry was a bit confused.

“Without resorting to what the muggles call ‘high-energy physics’ or anything like that, let’s simplify it to ‘point A is here and point B is here.’” He jabbed at imaginary points with his wand and the area glowed slightly in blue pinpricks of light. “You’re in ‘point A’ while wherever you was eating breakfast was ‘point B.’ We have a good bit of data, but we’re going to need to crunch the number to figure out where this ‘point B’ is… or will be.”

“’Will be?’ What do you mean by that?” Hermione asked, although the look on her face suggested that she had a good idea already. The answer came from Draco.

“He means that we’d have to extrapolate where and when it will be some time in the future.”

Bruce nodded.

“Right in one, lad, and doing that is going to take us some time to do.”

“How long?” Harry asked.

A shrug was his answer.

“At least a month. Not for doing the Arithmancy, unless something unexpected pops up. That will take us a bit less than that but I’ll have to cast the spells again in about a week to get another plotting point. Line up what I got today and what I’ll get for that second plot point, draw the line, and that will narrow things down considerably.”

“We can’t do this any faster?”

Bruce stared at him coolly and gestured to Hermione.

“We could, but do you want to risk her getting splattered all over space-time? Get back home with a piece of finger or a ripped up heart? Or do you want to wait a bit?”

Harry gulped.

“Good point. I believe we’ll wait.”

“Good lad. I figured you would.”

Bruce winked at him as he shook his finger mock-sternly at him. He ambled off to talk to Professor Vector. Draco watched him go. He turned back to the other two after a moment.

“Am I really that bad where you’re from?” His voice begged them to be pulling a prank.

Hermione gave him a Look and he shuddered involuntarily.

“Yes, Draco. I have scars on my body from things your family did to me and Harry has scars on his body from curses from Draco Malfoy.”

Draco’s body collapsed on itself for a bit.

“I’m sorry Harry, Hermione.”

Hermione’s regard was pointed and he could feel it piercing him. Soon it softened as he apologized.

“It’s not for _you_ to apologize to us, Draco, it’s Malfoy. You’re apparently a good friend to us. As strange as that is to the two of us standing here, it could be an advantage for us to get home. Well, less of a problem anyway. Just don’t act like him or you’ll find out the things we do in return.”

Draco couldn’t help another shiver at those words and another round of wondering just what he was like there? He decided that he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. To get off that subject, he started to talk about something else.

“What about the professors and staff at your school? Have you looked at the roster?”

Hermione considered that.

“No, not yet. We’ve only seen a few of the professors. Not all we’ve met yet have been exactly the same as we know.”

“Well, ask Professor Potter for the current roster. I don’t know if your Hogwarts does this, but here there’s a booklet that introduces the professors, lays out the rules of the school, grievance procedures and such. That might help you.”

Harry started. That was a good idea, so why didn’t he ever recall something like that? From the look on Hermione’s face she was thinking much the same thing.

Professor Vector approached from the side and tapped Draco on the shoulder.

“Draco, ready to help out with the Arithmancy? It’s going to take a while.”

“Yes, Professor. Harry, Hermione, we’ll talk later, okay?”

They nodded while the other two hustled to a table with a fairly large stack of parchment and a few quills that gave off a green-tinted ribbon of smoke. Harry snorted at the sight. Bruce hadn’t been kidding.

“Do you think we’re needed any more?” Hermione asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know, but might as well sit tight until someone says otherwise. I don’t want to get somewhere comfy and have to come back.”

They could see the Headmaster turn their way from across the Great Hall.

“Maybe he’s got something tell us,” Harry speculated.

“Maybe. We’ll see. Is it me or does he look meaner with an eyepatch and a sword?”

“It’s not you. Does it seem that the one eye has to twinkle twice as much to make up for the lost other one?”

She giggled, but not very loud since Dumbledore was getting closer still.

“A bit.” Louder, she spoke. “Hello, Headmaster.”

“Miss Granger, Mister Potter. Bruce and I have had a thought about possible differences between you and your respective counterparts. The two of you have mentioned certain divergences, shall we say, between what you know of people and what you see during your time here.”

“Yes, Headmaster?”

He continued at her question.

“There has been an observation that Mister Potter here possibly has more power available to him than the Harry Potter we know. The same thing for Miss Granger. Poppy has been wondering about that as it was one of possible reasons for the discrepancies in her medical records. Bruce and I were wondering if both of you would consent to having your power levels measured against what’s in Poppy’s records.”

“For what purpose, though?” Harry wondered.

“The theory we’re operating under is that should there be as large a difference as we think, then our Harry’s presence in your reality along with our Hermione will together create ripples.”

“Ripples?” Hermione was squinting at the Headmaster, matching him eye to eye.

“Yes. We think that your reality will try to adjust to their probable lower power levels and create a minute time-spatial backwash as Magic adjusts. This backwash, we’re pretty sure we can detect because it creates ripples like a rock thrown into lake water.”

They glanced at each other and shrugged. They didn’t see any issue with it.

“Splendid! Come this way.”

He lead them to an empty corner where a few concentric circles had been scribed out in chalk and a few runes had been etched. The inside circle was about five feet in diameter.

“Harry, stand in that circle. This has been constructed to minimize turbulence related to space-time. You’ll find that it’s very relaxing, so don’t go to sleep. The floor is still stone, so it’ll hurt if you land on your head.”

He snorted as Hermione muttered, “I doubt it.” Harry stepped into the circle, being careful not to smudge the lines with his foot.

“I’m going to activate the circle and it will look like a dark frosted tube will descend over you, but you’ll be able to see and hear everything. It’ll narrow down a little at the top like an inverted funnel, so keep your arm within the tube. Got it?”

Harry nodded agreement and watched as the Headmaster gave the incantation. Bruce noticed and walked over to observe. The frosted tube did indeed drop down over him at a very leisurely pace. Soon though, he noticed that just over his head there appeared to be a dark ceiling of sorts but it looked for all the world like a very dark cloud. He wondered if there was going to be a storm and if he was going to get drenched.

“Now, Harry. Take your wand and point it straight up, through that barrier. It will adjust to the length of your arm and covered the length of your wand and your hand to the edge of your wrist.”

He did and noticed that it did just that. His hand felt a bit cool, just like it felt if he was walking though a very heavy fog.

“Good, good. What this barrier does is provide a strong level of protection along with measuring the strength of a wizard’s or witch’s casting. The incantation is _Vires Et Potentia_ and you should put as much power into that as you possibly can. Think about whoever this Voldemort character is and what you’d do if he hurt whoever you love the most when you cast, and that will stabilize it. Got that?”

Harry locked eyes with Hermione. The look in his eyes made her want to hug him as tightly as she could, but she didn’t want to mess up the circle. He nodded and held his wand up.

“ _Vires Et Potentia!”_

A swirl of blue-green light, almost like a comet with a glittery tail, made several circuits around his body. The ‘head’ split in two mini-comets, which moved to his head and his chest over his heart. They gently settled into his skin, and he felt a soothing warmth in those places.

It felt good, but he didn’t know how it was supposed to measure anything since he couldn’t see any scales or indicators or anything like that.

“Huh. How about that?”

Bruce’s voice was startled, but it didn’t seem that it was anything to be overly concerned about. Harry didn’t feel any worse or anything, so he looked at the older man and waited for an explanation. Beside him, Lily’s expression looked more shocked than startled, and he looked askance at her. She didn’t say anything either which he thought was odd.

“Hold on a moment, lad. Step out carefully and let’s get Hermione in there.”

Harry expected the spell’s barrier to keep him contained in the circle. He stepped through it easily, which lead him to the conclusion that it was just to show the effective limit of the spell. Hermione passed him with a squeeze of his hand but without any comprehension of whatever Bruce and Lily had reacted to. Looking back, he could see remnants of what could have been numbers over the foggy barrier but they were too faded to make out what the numbers had been.

Bruce nodded at the young woman in the circle.

“Okay, lass, you know the drill. Same thing.”

“ _Vires Et Potentia!”_

Her voice was clear and as the spell tripped to form the swirling comet, Harry could see a set of numbers begin to form. It didn’t take long for a smoky _612_ appear above her. It didn’t really mean anything to him since he didn’t have any frame of reference to compare it to, but Harry was sure somebody would explain it to him. He felt oddly reassured Hermione didn’t seem to understand whatever his had been. Bruce and his mum had, however.

That reminded him, and he looked at them. The expressions on their faces had relaxed a bit, with a raised eyebrow added in his case. The Headmaster hadn’t reacted to anything, and Harry wondered again if the man knew how to gamble in Muggle casinos. Somehow, he wouldn’t really be surprised with this version of Dumbledore.

“Okay, lass, step out. We’re going to keep the spell going for now.”

Harry reached out without conscious thought and Hermione put her hand in his as she stepped over the lines of the circle. Bruce regarded the two of them and glanced at Lily. Harry could tell they had some shared thought on their minds but whatever it was, he didn’t know what it would have been.

Bruce leaned toward Dumbledore. He had a clearly conspiratorial note in his voice.

“You know, Albus, maybe we should try it with both of them?”

“That’s never been done. Will it hurt them?”

“You’ve never tried it. I have. Didn’t bother me. Worked pretty well, too.”

“You did? With who?!

“Remember the Marley twins and what they were like?”

The Headmaster reddened. The two younger pair could tell that there was a story here and debated who they could get to help them get it out of the old man.

“Yep, and getting two naked witches covered in whipped cream to stand still in a circle wasn’t easy, let me tell you. Finding the right wand to use wasn’t easy either, not that we tried all that hard to begin with.”

“Bruce!”

Lily’s squawk of outrage was punctuated by the smack on the back of his head. He ducked away from her, chuckling while Dumbledore merely shook his head at the other man’s antics.

“I think that while these two perform casual acts of murder, the two of you should try it. I admit to a quite strong curiosity myself.”

Hermione grinned and tugged Harry back into the circle. It was a bit cramped within the confines of the spell’s barrier and he wondered about that. He put it down to not being alone, and tried to stick his arm straight up. He’d forgotten about the constriction of the spell’s area and Hermione noticed.

“Stand as close as you can and maybe we’ll fit.”

She wrapped the non-wand-holding arm around him and he did the same. They pulled each other close and in a distant corner of his mind he reflected that he was enjoying that quite a lot. She laid her head on his chest.

Bruce grinned at Lily, seeing this.

“All right, you two. The best way to do this is put your wand hands together with both wands in them. You don’t have to have a regular grip so long as both wands have contact with both hands.”

He thought that her hands seemed to fit in his quite well and their wands nestled together too. He didn’t know wands would do that.

_Huh. How about that?_

Lily cleared her throat gently and they jumped a bit. Harry looked down to see that her cheeks were a bit red as she asked, “Ready?”

He nodded.

“ _Vires Et Potentia!”_

This time the swirling comets were a different color. His was silver, hers was gold, and before they split into the halves, the comets combined to form what appeared to be a burnished silver comet with flowing gold rivulets. The split was in quarters instead of halves and looked the same.

As those soaked into their skin, they could hear a gasp from Lily and a startled exclamation from Bruce.

“That’s amazing!”

Dumbledore motioned them out of the circle and he shut down the spell. The tube collapsed silently. Harry looked around for Lily and found her sitting on one of the benches. The table was at her back and he could see that she was rubbing her temples.

“Do you think something’s wrong?” he asked Hermione.

“I don’t know. We should ask her, right?”

“Probably. I can’t help but get the feeling that there’s something unexpected. I saw a 612 when you did your test.”

“I saw a 744 on yours.”

Wondering what the numbers meant and what they had gotten together, they sat down next to Lily. She turned and hugged him tightly. Harry was shocked to see tears in her eyes.

“Mum?”

“Oh my baby. I only know some of what you’ve been though, but that reading you got couldn’t have been scored without a lot of hardships and difficulties. My Harry only got 248, Hermione got 201 and they’re both in the average range for their ages. You’re both much stronger.”

He stiffened, and Lily looked at him. Her eyes widened.

“Harry! I didn’t mean you weren’t mine! I consider you my Harry too! It’s okay…”

He gently interrupted.

“Mum, I know what you meant. I was worried about a weaker version of us at home. I don’t know how they’ll handle it.”

She hugged him again.

Hermione waited for a moment, but it didn’t take long for her burning curiosity to make itself known.

“Well, what did we get together? What do all those numbers mean?”

Bruce spoke up from a little further down on the bench.

“Together, the both of you got 1544 on the Eilif Scale.”

Hermione frowned at him.

“What is the ‘Eilif Scale’ and what does it have to do with us?”

“It’s a way to measure magical power. It’s not used as much anymore since it’s as subjective and changes from day to day and sometimes minute to minute. It also depends on the conditioning of the person being measured, like physical conditioning. An athlete will be stronger than a run-of-the-mill wizard on the street, and it’s the same for this scale’s purposes.”

“I see. What do we have to compare these numbers to?”

“Well, Albus there is a 1041 on a good day, and I’m usually rating 997 or so. We’re among the most powerful wizards currently walking around.”

Harry looked at Lily. She snorted.

“Normally you don’t ask a lady her age, weight or magical power, but I’ll answer. I’m usually at an even 700. More if I’m pissed off.”

Harry looked at Bruce, who was nodding emphatically.

“Lad, piece of advice. Never piss off a redhead. Never. And don’t forget her birthday. Or anniversary. Or...”

Lily whacked him in the gut, rewarding her with a solid _ooooomph!_ There was a brighter twinkle in Dumbledore’s eye at the byplay, but he said nothing when Lily gave him a beady look.

“So how do we use this?”

Hermione’s voice was a little plaintive, and Harry admitted to himself that he was wondering that as well.

The Headmaster’s reply was heavy.

“We have to look for those eddies in time and space that rush in to fill the gap the two of you left behind. We have a good guess of how much time we have to find it, get you set up, get the right spellwork, and get confirmation it worked. We only have one shot.”

Harry didn’t like that answer.

“How long?”

Dumbledore looked him in the eye.

“If we’re lucky, six weeks. If not…”

He trailed off, not specifying.


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter Ten_

  
  


“Hey.”

He looked up. Hermione was standing over him. Harry had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t noticed her arrival. He budged over and made room for her to sit. Lily’s quarters was quiet and comforting, and they were relaxing after the revelations made by the Headmaster.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind. Well, more than you usually do.”

He sighed.

“There’s just so much that I never really had time to think about, but this reality’s version of Harry has had that time.”

He was quiet for a bit, but Hermione knew that there was more. She also knew that to push him might make him clam up, making it harder to get it out of him. So she grabbed his hand and laid her head on his shoulder. Neither of them said anything for a while, watching the occasional birds fly by.

The shadows slowly approached them and Hermione started to wonder if they were going to stay out here all evening. She was starting to get hungry but didn’t want to admit it to Harry. Whatever was bothering him was more important to her right now. She’d been pondering her thoughts hard enough that she didn’t notice Harry had turned and was gazing at her.

“Hermione?”

She jumped a bit.

“Harry? I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“Well, I didn’t say. I’ve been sitting here for the last five or ten minutes wondering what you’ve been thinking so hard about?”

“Just some things I’ve been thinking about.”

“Hermione. We both know there’s more to it than that.”

His tone was firm, green eyes unyielding, and she felt her mouth go dry. Damn it. She might know him better than he knew himself, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of her moods in return.

“Harry, I don’t quite know how to start with everything on my mind.”

“Pick a spot, talk about it, pick another. Simple.”

She glared at him.

“Not all of us are boys!”

“It’d make matters simpler sometimes,” he mumbled under his breath but unfortunately for him, she heard it.

“Oh it would, huh? And if the world was filled with other boys, who would you kiss? Malfoy? Ron? Snape?”

He shuddered at the disgusting thought.

“I don’t want to kiss them!”

“Then who?”

He didn’t know what possessed him. Maybe it was the situation that they found themselves in, or maybe the things they’d heard about their counterparts, or perhaps all the different changes they’d found. Whatever it was, he acted before his brain could stop him.

Harry leaned in quickly and kissed Hermione on the lips before she could say another word. He drew back, shocked at his actions and had no clue why he did that. His mouth fell open and he just sat there.

For her part, Hermione pressed her fingers to her lips where Harry had just kissed her. She was just as surprised as he was but there was the beginnings of a small smile on her lips. It seemed to her that he’d come to a decision and true to Gryffindors all, charged ahead without thinking. For her part, she’d been thinking about this happening for some time.

She looked at Harry sitting next to her with his mouth swinging open at the completely new actions he’d just finished doing, and decided that it was time for her own Gryffindor characteristics to come out.

“Uh, Hermione?”

Hermione reached out and grabbed his shirt and tugged him toward her as hard as she could.

“Hermione?!” he yelped in confusion, but there wasn’t much more he could ask her before she grumbled an answer.

“Shut up, Harry.”

She kissed him, hard. Harry didn’t have a lot of breath available to him, but quite frankly he wasn’t as concerned about that as he was about… this. There was a growl from somewhere as she pulled back somewhat, and Hermione pushed him back into the cushions. Her eyes darkened and Harry thought she looked feral. She straddled his lap and kissed him again, hard. It seemed like she wasn’t taking any disagreement for an answer, not that he could think of any questions right at that moment.

It would have been a bit scary if he hadn’t been distracted by her lips on his.

His hands came up without any conscious thought and entangled themselves in her hair. Her smaller hands had already grasped his black hair and made more of the usual mess. Hermione was not going to let him go anywhere and if she had to hold him down with her body, then that was what she damn well was going to do!

“Harry, are you...”

Lily walked into the front room and gaped at the two on her couch. It didn’t appear to the redhead that either had heard her aborted question, and from the looks of it neither one would be hearing much else.

“Lily, what’s wrong?”

She whirled around, shushing Severus, who’d almost walked into her as she stood rooted to the spot. He raised his eyebrows as she put a finger to her lips and used the other hand to point to the younger pair. The eyebrows jumped up and he tried to hold back a snort.

“I wonder who figured it out first?” The whisper in her ear held a great deal of humorous speculation.

Lily shrugged, her eyes dancing. Harry was well and truly trapped under Hermione’s determined focus, but he seemed to be giving as good as he got. She wondered if they figured out how to breathe amid the osculations but doubted that was foremost on their minds. The Potions professor leaned toward her with a definite gleam in his brown eyes.

“I really wish James could have been here to see this. Imagine the pranks.”

“He’d have at least six ready to go already just waiting for this to happen.”

“Probably. Let’s see, now…”

He stilled his features to the best approximation of Professor Snape as he could and murmured a transfiguration spell to turn his blazer and khakis into black robes and a minor glamour to change his eye color. He winked at Lily, who was trying not to laugh as he stepped to the center of the room and crossed his arms. He spoke slowly and precisely with as much sarcasm as he could manage.

“Mr. Potter. Such... depraved… behavior is to be expected from you, but I’d dimly hoped to see improvement. I see that I am to be disappointed yet again. Miss Granger, must you fail yet again to display a lack of decorum fitting to your… station?”

The reaction was immediate. Hermione jumped off Harry’s lap and almost fell to the floor, while Harry whacked his head on the wall behind the couch. Both stared up at ‘Professor Snape’s’ very unamused expression frowning down upon them. Hermione was gasping for air and trying to wipe off her lips while Harry was trying to straighten his glasses and clean the fog off them at the same time. The shock was very evident on their pale faces.

“Detention for the rest of the year, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. I will be informing Professor McGonagall of the behavior I’ve witnessed. We will be discussing any other necessary measures to… _correct…_ this behavior then.”

“But, Professor…!” This time Hermione did fall off the couch, pulling Harry with her. He landed with a grunt as Hermione’s knee found his groin again. She didn’t even notice it this time in her shock at the appearance of Professor Snape, but he definitely did. In fact, his thoughts were centered on it.

Severus turned and stalked off to the bedroom door, his robe billowing behind him. Dismayed, Harry and Hermione stared after him from their position sprawled on the floor. It took a several long moments to register the howls of laughter coming from the redhead clutching the walls across the room. It wasn’t until Severus reversed the changes he’d made to his appearance and joined her in mirth that they realized they’d been had.

Harry got up gingerly, half his thoughts on whether the Potter line was going to survive this adventure and half on the hilarity that wasn’t that funny. Hermione noticed and her face paled again.

“Oh, Harry! I didn’t mean to do that again! What do I need to do to make it feel better?”

Of course, this innocent remark made Lily explode in laughter and Harry gave her a fisheyed look. It fell to Severus to remark dryly on it.

“I’m fairly sure there’s only a few courses of treatment for that malady, Hermione, and several of those require privacy. Plus, we really don’t want to know.”

He waited for her face to turn red at the implication.

“Of course, if I need to arrange a baby shower…”

He grinned at Harry’s now-matching red face. Lily took pity on Harry and gave him a hug. He huffed, but didn’t push her away.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” not admitting that she really wasn’t since it had been so funny, “but we’ve been wondering since you got here what was taking so long to figure it out.”

Harry squinted at her.

“And was there a bet running on this too?”

She grinned.

“If there was one… or two… maybe three… I didn’t partake of the speculation.”

He squinted harder. She laughed.

“What?”

Harry sighed.

“I’m _so going_ to break up the betting rings when I get back.”

“Good luck,” Lily grinned at him. “I doubt you’ll get even a tenth of them.”

He moaned.

Luckily for him, Hermione changed the subject. She gifted a glare to an unrepentant Severus but addressed Lily.

“Lily, is there a handbook with the current roster? We want to see what else has changed?”

Lily nodded and went to a small desk. She tapped her wand twice on the surface and pulled out a drawer that extended far more than the size of the desk would have otherwise indicated. There was a paperback about an inch thick in the drawer and she handed it to Hermione.

“There’s a lot of information there, along with general information and public filings with the Ministry. Sorry, but that last part is required, even though it’s dry and dull. It’s a good half of what’s there and frankly I think it could have been cut out.”

The younger woman grimaced in agreement after quickly flipping through it. She didn’t see what a Hogwarts handbook would need with Ministry contact information or the last six month’s worth of departmental newsletters. Harry saw it and rolled his eyes.

“Thanks, mum. We’ll look at it and see what we can discover. When do you want it back?”

She waved it off.

“Keep it. It’s not like I can’t get another copy – or really want another, anyway. I’ll just nick Sev’s copy. I don’t think he’s even opened his for the last five or six years.”

“Well… okay. Thanks.” Harry wasn’t sure what to think about that.

Severus headed for the door, chuckling.

“Sorry, kids, but I’ve got duties to perform. I’m sure Lily can keep you occupied – unless you can think of a thing or two to occupy yourselves with?”

He darted out into the corridor before Harry could find something to throw at him.

Hermione stared after the fleeing Potions professor and the fading merriment.

“I’m just not used to a Severus Snape with a sense of humor.”

“Me, either. It’s just so strange.”

“Do you think Professor Snape would have been like this if his life had been different?”

He pondered it.

“I’d like to think so. He’s a very private man, and well…”

“What?”

“Well, I was thinking. You see the relationship that mum has with this version of Snape, a long time friendship, and I have to wonder.”

“Okay?”

He was quiet for a moment, thinking. Hermione waited for him.

“Hermione, I have to wonder if the Lily Evans from home hadn’t married James Potter and married Severus Snape, if he’d be my father.”

“It’s a strange thought, but I have to wonder something else.”

“What?”

“I bet if he’d have someone to love him, he wouldn’t be as bad as he is now.”

He thought about that.

“It makes sense. Do you think that when Lily Potter died, that a part of him died too?”

She frowned.

“It’s possible. Are you saying that Professor Snape is carrying a torch for your mum?”

He shuddered.

“I really don’t know. As scary as that thought is, I can’t say it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Maybe we should ask Moony about them. He’d know, right?”

Hermione brightened.

“Yes! He’s one of the original Marauders. He would know.”

“Okay. That’s yet another thing to ask about.”

He broke off.

“What is it, Harry?”

“Do you think Sirius and Remus are alive here?”

“We can ask. I’ve been wondering that, too.”

“We’ll ask later. In the meantime, let’s look at this handbook.”

“Okay, what part first?”

“Start at the beginning. If we were students here, wouldn’t we?”

“True.” She flipped the book open to look at the first few pages.

“There’s a brief history of Hogwarts, biographies of the Founders – how they know the specifics after so long is hard to imagine – a general map of the school and grounds.”

“We both know that a map would be next to useless, unless it was the Marauders’ Map.”

“Wonder if the Twins have it here?”

“No idea.”

They spent the next few minutes looking at the handbook, laughing at the antics of some of the inhabitants of the pictures. Some were playful, some were serious. There was one of Hagrid that looked exactly like the Hagrid that they knew.

“Harry, let’s look at the professors.”

“Okay.”

They looked at the handbook that listed the departments and what instructors and assistant instructors worked in those departments, with a short biography listing their achievements. All had Masteries of one type or another and some held multiple Masteries from different institutions. The idea of assistant instructors intrigued them for a moment, and they wondered how many students was in this version of Hogwarts. The departments were in alphabetical order. So far, everything looked as they had known it. Flitwick was the Charms Professor and Ravenclaw Head. Professor Sprout was the Herbology Professor and Hufflepuff Head, and Professor Snape was the Potions Professor and Master, and Slytherin Head. They thought about what this Professor McGonagall had said about her jobs.

"She isn't the Transfiguration Professor like she is for us, she said."

"That sounds so odd, doesn't it? I wonder who it is here and if there's a match where we're from?"

"We're only in the 'P's' so unless you want to skip we need to keep looking."

"Let's skip. We can go back."

Each page had two instructors, whose magical photographs reacted in the manner they were accustomed to. They had seen Professor McGonagall's stern face as the Deputy Headmistress and both drew comfort from the familiarity. They flipped ahead to the page with a heading proclaiming 'Tranfiguration,' to find a pleasant-looking man with thinning black hair, bright blue eyes, a large smile and a cheery wave. His wand waved around, changing a mug into a thoroughly unimpressed looking parrot. Harry grunted.

"Hmm. This bloke looks all right. I’d think he must enjoy his job. That grin reminds me of Professor Flitwick."

Beside him, Hermione suddenly paled. Harry glanced at her at the sound of the strangled gasp.

"What?"

"Harry, look at his name."

He did as he found the ornate ribboned title and his mouth went dry as he read aloud.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, Jr."

They stared at each other as the book fell out of their hands and hit the floor. The sound it made went unnoticed.


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter Eleven_

  
  


Dumbledore scratched an itch on his side as he stood looking out the windows facing the Black Lake. This was a strange situation that they all had found themselves in recently, but it at least confirmed a few theories that he had held for some time now. He didn’t know if it would help him lay some of his personal demons to rest, but if there was a way, then maybe he could find it.

Still, there were more important things to do. He couldn’t put himself before a pair of students in need. The fact that they weren’t _his_ students, per se, didn’t matter. For all the power that they had at their fingertips – literally – they still needed experience and knowledge to make use of that same power.

That and the fact that their counterparts were weaker. He hoped that their version of Dumbledore had gotten to them and were taking good care of their lost sheep.

He snorted at that thought. Minerva would not be very pleased with his comparison, not with the symbol of her House being a lion. In fact, it would probably be best that he didn’t say anything like that out loud or he’d regret it for at least six months afterward.

He hadn’t forgotten the last time he rattled off a _faux pas_ in the Great Hall or had the opportunity to live it down. On the other hand, Filius remained even more amused at it and he never forgot things like this.

There was a knock at the door. He sat down at the large desk, trying to make it look a little more neater.

“Come!”

As if his thoughts had been manifested whole, his Deputy Head and his Charms Professor walked in.

“Minerva! Filius! What brings you by?”

“School business, as usual,” McGonagall replied and Flitwick chuckled.

“And never the bragging about winning this week’s pool or last week’s or the week’s before that?”

She gave him a narrow glance.

“And like _someone we know_ who was late in paying up, wouldn’t you?”

Dumbledore decided that maybe he was pushing his luck sometimes. With a sigh, he reached into a secret compartment in his desk and withdrew a fair-sized money bag he’d hoped she’d forgotten about. He offered it to McGonagall, who smirked at him and put it away in her robes.

“Surely you didn’t need Filius to help you with your winnings, did you Minerva?”

“Oh no, Albus. He wanted to ask you about his winnings. He figured that he was going to ask while the getting was good.”

Dumbledore sighed again. He’d hoped Filius would have forgotten about the bet, but it seemed it wasn’t going to be his day. He reached back into the compartment and pulled out a bottle of aged firewhiskey and set it down on the desk. The bottle was warm to the touch and everyone eyed it as the contents settled. The last time a bottle had erupted it took three days to get the scorch marks off the ceiling and Fawkes was drunk for a week.

“Well, for what else can I thank for your company today?”

Minerva snorted.

“My other lions are concerned about the absence of Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. They are currently trying to figure out why they haven’t been seen in class.”

Dumbledore noted from the corner of his eye that Flitwick seemed to be giggling to himself.

“I assume that there are opinions running rampant?”

McGonagall snorted.

“You could say that. The least probable is that they transferred to another school. Since Lily and Severus are still here, that makes that look unlikely.”

“I’d agree.” Dumbledore didn’t say anything else, interested to see what else the students came up with.

“The next idea is that Miss Granger was called away to deal with family issues related to her parents’ murder five years ago but some remember that all arrangements had been seen to then. As such the only thing that could have happened was that she would want to visit their graves and considering that exams are coming up…”

“Nobody could see her dropping those considering her studiousness.”

“Just so. Aside from some truly off the wall items which I will not dignify with a comment,” she sniffed with disdain for such silliness but continued with her report, “there are quite a few that are convinced that they’ve broken up and are avoiding each other after she caught him with varying other students and that she’s heartbroken.”

Albus brightened.

“Ah, to be young and feel love’s keen sting,” he chortled.

McGonagall sighed at his humor and Flitwick rolled his eyes, although he couldn’t help but snicker a few more times.

“Minerva, Albus, we all know the likelihood of that one, regardless of which pair we’re speaking of.”

“True, Filius, and I’d be willing to lay a bet that they show up on the grounds hand in hand.”

“You’re on. What’s the wager?”

She tapped the bottle of Firewhiskey gently.

“Really?”

“Really. Besides, Albus here,” she speared him with a glance, “owes me a bottle too.”

He’d hoped she would have forgotten that, too. Dumbledore shrugged mentally and spoke up.

“Let’s raise the stakes. Two bottles, but if they get noticed on the grounds in the next three days with a good snogging too.”

Minerva snorted.

“Done.”

They shook hands all around, since Flitwick decided this was a good bet and he liked them both anyway. Fawkes shook his head while watching this and traded glances with the Sorting Hat. Minerva stood up from the uncomfortable chairs that Albus preferred.

“Well, then I have parchment to grade and Filius has his own to deal with. I wanted to bring that to your attention.”

“And lay a bet, of course.”

She smirked.

“A sure bet, you mean.”

She was almost to the door by then when the Headmaster’s bemused voice stopped her.

“What makes you so sure that you’ll win this one, Minerva?”

His eyes twinkled. He had her this time, he was sure. Those two bottles were soon to be his.

The Deputy Head grinned at him. The twinkle went out, since she reserved that grin only for certain occasions.

“This is Mister Potter, remember? No matter which one he is, I’m quite sure he’s got his father’s invisibility cloak. You remember how James Potter was like as a student with that very same cloak, and Harry is his father’s son. I know it’s been many years…”

“ _Decades_ _!”_ Flitwick coughed. Albus glared at him.

“...since you’ve been in his shoes, but with a pretty girl like Miss Granger? Plus he’s got her smarts to draw upon with that cloak, too. It’s the quiet ones, you know.”

They hustled out, leaving Dumbledore staring at the door with his mouth open. He slapped his forehead as the door closed.

“Dammit!”

From somewhere down the staircase, he faintly heard a _“two bottles, Albus!”_

He sighed. Having to listen to both the Hat and Fawkes guffaw at him didn’t help. Minerva was going to drive him to drink, except if he kept losing to her there wouldn’t be anything to drink!

  
  


|---====OOOOO====---|

  
  


Lily Potter wondered what had gotten into the young couple. Earlier today, they had been so cute together, even after that prank Sev pulled on them. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself as she thought about it. It was a good one.

Sev traded glances with her. As the four of them sat at the table that evening, she decided to ask since Harry and Hermione was picking at their food.

“Harry? Are you and Hermione all right? Was Sev’s prank too much?”

He looked up with a weak smile.

“It was a good prank, great even. We just found out something after you gave us that handbook that we’re having trouble processing and we don’t know how to talk about it.”

Harry was silent, and Lily could see that Hermione was taking her cue from him. She would wait for him to speak first. The silence dragged on.

Finally, Lily’s patience broke.

“Harry James! What was it?”

He jumped at her tone. Green eyes met green eyes, and she could see an odd mixture of fear and determination in them.

“Mum, it’s Voldemort.”

She frowned at the name.

“That’s the mass-murderer that left you to grow up without your parents?”

His frown matched hers as he nodded.

“Among others, mum. Neville’s parents were tortured into insanity by one of his most devout and murderous followers, Bellatrix LeStrange, and…”

Her gasp stopped him.

“What, mum? Is she here in this reality?”

Her green eyes were wide and Severus was pale, too. Lily shot a pleading look at him.

“Harry, from what your mum told me, Bella was your favorite babysitter when you – er, our Harry – was growing up. She loves Harry Potter dearly and well, is looking forward to grandchildren to babysit. Bella is very maternal.”

Hermione was dumbstruck. She could not imagine Bellatrix Lestrange being anything more than psychotic. From the stupefied face Harry had, he couldn’t either. Lily pressed on.

“Who is this LeStrange your Bella married?”

“He’s a Death Eater, mum, very nasty and well, we have had troubles with him in the past.”

“Our Bella is unmarried. Sirius won’t force her into a marriage contract like some families do. In fact, he wants to visit.”

Harry’s eyes widened as Lily continued.

“Harry, your Professor Flitwick told me that Sirius was killed by Bellatrix, and that’s just so odd for me to hear. Would you be all right to see either one of them, considering your experiences?”

Hermione grabbed his hand and nodded ‘yes.’ He looked at her and mouthed ‘both?’

“Yes, Harry. I think it would be a good idea. Both, and Professor Lupin, Tonks, and Professor Moody.”

He brightened at the thought of seeing them again.

“I have to think about Bella and think hard. It’s hard to stop ingrained responses.”

Lily cleared her throat before they could get further off topic.

“I haven’t forgotten about my question, which you haven’t answered, but first some of my own. Remus is a professor, who is Tonks, and are you talking about Alistair Moody?”

Hermione smiled broadly.

“He keeps saying that he isn’t our professor anymore, but we keep telling him he was the best Defense professor we’d ever had and we didn’t care about his furry little problem.”

Sev spoke up with a wineglass in his hand.

“Hear, hear! I keep telling him that.”

Shaking her head at the oddity of that response and setting her curls to shimmering, she continued.

“Tonks is Nymphadora Tonks, his wife and mother of his child. Harry’s godson, Teddy. She hates her first name and goes by Tonks.”

Harry snorted and Lily looked at him.

“And Professor Moody is Alistair Moody, except he was replaced by a polyjuiced Death Eater for our fourth year teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. The strange thing was that he was actually a good professor. We learned one very important thing from him.”

“What?”

“CONSTANT VIGILANCE!”

The shouted motto caused Sev to dump his wineglass into his face and down his front. Lily jumped and hit the bottom edge of the table with her legs. It was a sturdy table and barely moved. Various unladylike things issued forth from her mouth and she hit Harry with a stinging hex and an Incarcerous spell.

After Harry fell to the floor, bound tightly and moaning from the power of the stinging hex, Hermione looked at him and started laughing. She looked up to see Lily glaring at her and gulped. She quickly held her hands up.

“Lily! It’s okay! The fake Moody would shout that before whatever he sprang whatever trap he’d set in the classroom.”

She breathed a sigh of relief when Lily calmed down. Hermione cast a _Tergeo_ at Sev, cleaning the wine from him. He raised an eyebrow as he realized that she did it wandlessly.

“He got you back, at least,” she whispered to him. He agreed quietly.

Lily snorted, ignoring their interaction.

“He can stay that way for a few minutes, or I’ll show him what his father had to learn a few times.”

Harry looked like he wanted to ask, but the emphatic head-shake from Sev changed his mind quickly. She knelt to get closer to him.

“Do that again and I don’t care how old you are. You’ll learn what a mother’s spanking feels like.”

He nodded, very quickly. Harry knew where his temper came from. Lily let him stew for a few minutes while the others set the table to rights, then released him. She pointed to his chair and he knew better than not to sit. Harry also knew better than to open his mouth for a bit and make things worse. Hermione’s snickering at him didn’t help.

“Now, as I was saying before Harry tried to demonstrate Constant Vigilance and failed, Remus and Tonks are married. Are they here too?”

“Yes, but not married. He’s being chased, running hard and he’s almost right where she wants him.”

“Harry and I should help and I have just the thing.”

“Ohhhh?”

Despite the grumpiness brought on by Harry’s little trick, Lily watched as Hermione grabbed a little beaded bag and rustled around in it. An eyebrow came up as her arm disappeared up to her elbow.

“Neat trick, Hermione.”

“Yes and very useful. Undetectable Extension Charm. It comes in handy, except when my books get in the way.”

“Books? How many books do you have in there?”

“Twelve at the moment, but I’ve had more.”

Lily grinned, her pique forgotten.

“I’ll have to see what you have. I might have some to give you.”

Harry groaned at that. Sev shook his head at him again and he stopped before the other two could say anything. The older man sighed in relief.

Hermione dug around a bit more, then pulled out a large photo album.

“I’ve been keeping important photos, both wizarding and muggle in here.”

Lily took the album and saw that it was split into two sections, labeled “Hermione” and “Harry.” She grinned up at the younger woman, who blushed.

“Hmmmmmm… Don’t think I haven’t forgotten my question from earlier, but we can look for a moment.”

Harry sidled over to the other man. He took advantage of the women’s distraction to whisper in his ear.

“Does she do that often and does she ever forget anything?”

“You have no idea. I’m still paying for something I did in sixth year.”

Lily looked up to see them whispering to each other and her eyebrow quirked in speculation. They hastily tried to look as angelic as possible, which they realized wasn’t going to work when they saw Hermione look up as well and her eyes narrow.

The women glanced at each other and nodded before going back to the photo album. Sev groaned.

“Oh, shit. We’re busted. Thanks a lot.”

“Me? You’re the one that mentioned paying for something? What did you do anyway?”

“...James and I charmed her knickers to shrink one size. Neither of us realized it was during _that time._ It was not a good week for anyone.”

Harry wondered what he meant by time, then his eyes bugged out.

“Oh, damn. How did you survive?”

“Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. And groveling. And flowers. And foot rubs. James on one foot, me on the other. She made us rub the feet of every sixth and seventh year girl there.”

“Okay, the foot rubs I could maybe see? That’s not a huge amount.”

“In both Gryffindor and Slytherin?”

“Oh, damn.”

No further words were exchanged from the male contingent in the room. The females continued to speak quietly.

“Lily, you made them rub your feet huh?”

“You could hear them whispering?”

“Harry forgets how sharp my hearing is sometimes. Something about knickers and one size smaller?”

Lily smirked.

“Oh the revenge for that was so fun. The older girls thanked me for it. Plus even though there was the usual rivalry, we women had to stick together.”

“I bet. Speaking of bets, wonder if Professor McGonagall bet on it?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. Now what about convincing Remus?”

Hermione flipped to Harry’s section and Lily gasped at the first picture.

“Is that my wedding picture? How do you have it?”

Hermione turned the album around.

“I copied every picture he has in from an album Hagrid gave him years ago for Christmas, so that he wouldn’t lose them should something happen in battle. There’s a third one in a vault at Gringotts.”

Lily looked at the picture.

“This looks different. I can see Sirius, too. Sirius was at our wedding and so was Sev. Sirius and Sev were both groomsmen. Where is Severus here?”

Hermione shook her head.

“I think our Severus was already a Death Eater by then. From what others told us, our Lily and Severus had a falling out in school. It was pretty bad.”

Lily frowned but didn’t say anything. She flipped more pages.

“Harry has a lot of pictures of James and me in school, doesn’t he?”

“Yes. That was the only way he knew what both of you looked like. Plus, he only got that photo album in his first year at Hogwarts. Until that year, he didn’t know he was a wizard or who the Potters were. The Dursleys told him James and Lily were drunks that died in a car wreck when he was a baby. For that matter, he didn’t know his name until he started Muggle school.”

Hermione saw the fire flare in her eyes and she grabbed Lily’s hand.

“Lily! I’ve got him now and that will never happen again, I promise you!”

Brown eyes locked with green eyes. One set promised payback to the other set’s demand. Lily took a very deep breath and flipped the page. It was quite interesting to see what the other James and Lily had done. She looked at various scenes, some of which that she knew she’d never done. She wiped a few tears at the sight of a young James and she could see the resemblance between the young man in the pictures and the young man in her quarters.

Hermione tapped a picture of a baby with blue hair. Lily could see that the hair was changing colors.

“This is Teddy?”

“Yes. Edward Remus Lupin, but ‘Teddy’ to everyone.”

“Named after his grandfather and father?”

“Yes. Did you know Ted Tonks?”

“I do know. Ted’s law firm is the Potter lawyers. I talked to him the other day. Both he and Andromeda look after my legal affairs from James.”

“Oh.”

Lily looked up.

“I take it…”

“Andromeda raises Teddy with Harry, but since we’re still in school it’s more her than anything. Ted, Remus, and Tonks are all gone.”

“Oh,” Lily sniffled. “But show Remus and Dora this and I bet it would kick things off.”

“I think so, too.”

There was a knock on the door and a somewhat familiar voice came from outside, but neither Harry or Hermione could place it.

“Lily? Are you in?”

Lily smiled.

“Come in!”

The door opened and the visitor came in with a bottle of wine.

“I brought this for dinner tomorrow. I’m sure Sev will appreciate it with chicken marsala.”

“I will, too. Even if I’m not a wine snob like you.”

She broke off, seeing the terrified looks on Hermione’s face. Behind her, she heard Harry’s enraged shout.

“ _Riddle!”_

  
  



	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Twelve

  
  


Something was up. There was no denying it. The atmosphere of the Castle had changed ever since those two Gryffindor gits had been carried out of the Great Hall after that strange light show. Dumbledore had looked poleaxed for a moment, then as dangerous as any of the students had ever seen him. The blade of the sword that he carried everywhere had actually glowed with some malevolence that frightened the group huddled in the empty classroom.

No one had seen the Potter snot or the Granger swot since then, or at least had admitted to it. It had been a few days since that whatever it was had happened. None of the pupils had seen Lily Potter either, which had garnered some speculation. Granted it was a large castle, and for some reason she seemed to be able to appear out of thin air sometimes.

Especially if you were up to no good. No one could explain it. Potter and Granger could do the same thing and it stood to reason that she had taught them the same thing. He wondered if there was something about the castle that revealed its secrets to her or if it just really liked her. Mrs. Potter could sometimes be seen patting the walls of the castle like a faithful steed. It always looked odd to him but maybe it could explain a lot.

It still didn’t explain much to him and he didn’t like it. He hadn’t spent years building up a quiet information network here for nothing. Knowledge was power, after all, and blackmail came in handy sometimes. Too bad there wasn’t any blackmail on her – he’d love to take the Potter widow to his bed. There were many others in the castle that had the same thought, if unexpressed. It wasn’t safe to say that out loud. Dumbledore was too handy with that blade and Professor Snape was too sneaky.

It miffed him that he didn’t know what happened. No one did. To be more precise, not any of his usual contacts knew. The confusion on their faces irked him and he reflected that maybe it was time to regroup. He was headed out to the Quidditch pitch after he donned the armor needed to play a game.

The young man snorted at the thought. He didn’t ‘play’ a game when he got on his broom. He ‘fought’ a game. His House team was one of the most physical and if it wasn’t for the Slytherin team, the dirtiest playing team. It was a good thing that his armor had ‘a few extra enhancements’ that none of the professors could claim was cheating. They couldn’t, since it was his house magic and part of him. They allowed him to either think a bit faster or divert some of his current thoughts to something other than Quidditch without any drop in performance.

As he sped out of the tunnel to take his pregame lap with the others, the young man snorted. They were playing Gryffindor today and without their wonderful seeker Potter, they were easy pickings. Even though the youngest Weasley was a lot better than expected, it wouldn’t be a problem for his team to stomp them into the mud.

The whistle blew to start the game and part of his mind split to consider what he’d been thinking on before the game. He needed to find out what was going on, he knew that. If it was something to make Dumbledore look as he did, then it needed to be discovered. Others needed to be kept from the secret while he decided how best to turn it to his advantage. The problem was that there wasn’t much data to get, at least not yet.

Well, something had to give. The whole of the castle’s inhabitants was looking at each other with much confusion and he couldn’t really blame him. He needed to identify his marks and watch what they did and what information he could glean. It should take too much time. It was amazing sometimes what could happen in a week.

Maybe he would talk to some of his more gossipy housemates and start a rumor. If a pot was stirred just right, then of course something might just bubble up.

He redirected the Quaffle to the nearby Chaser almost absentmindedly. The part of his mind ruminating on the possible rumor thought that it had possibilities indeed. He’d have to be careful, as always. No rumors had ever been traced back to him, and if anyone asked him he would have to plead ignorance. Then should someone relate the rumor he chose, he’d have to plead either amazement or indifference depending on where he wanted it to go.

Such things were interesting. The young man knew that this was an operation that could carry a good bit of risk but he was an old hand at it by now, having tasted the pleasures of quite a few nubile pieces running around. Rumors had shepherded them to him and he had send them along none the wiser. The Obliviate charm had a special place in his repertoire indeed. His father and grandfather had insured that and instructed him in the use and tactics necessary.

He had to uphold the family’s unspoken reputation, the source of their power, and the underpinnings of their abilities and tastes. It was really only to be expected from those who knew of things like this, the few that were allowed to.

Especially if your last name was Diggory.

  
  


|---====OOOOO====---|

  
  


Wands were out and pointed at the man in the doorway, who clutched the wine bottle in surprise. Harry and Hermione both had hard faces and Harry in particular had cold eyes. Nobody said anything for a moment, feeling the power roll off Harry. It linked with Hermione’s power as she stood behind him and multiplied the effects. Papers and other light objects blew off the coffee table and Lily could hear the rattle of the table settings. She knew she had to do something quickly. She spoke gently as she stood up slowly.

“Harry? Sweetheart, calm down. That’s not your version.”

She could tell that this wasn’t helping, so she stood between them.

“Mum, move.”

Harry’s voice was low and dangerous. His wand tip was starting to glow.

“No, Harry. This is not your Tom Riddle. Remember where you are. Hermione, you too.”

She could see that there was some relaxation happening since the dishes weren’t rattling as hard so she kept talking.

“Sweetheart, I’m right here. Nothing’s going to happen to me and Tom isn’t going to hurt me or Hermione. We’ve known him for twenty years or more. He’s an old friend of the Potters. He’s one of the kindest and sweetest men I’ve ever known. James was one of his best students and he was very sad to lose his favorite student.”

Seeing that the soft voice was helping, she continued. Tom was hoping that it would help and soon.

“Tom was at my son’s christening ceremony with his wife, Bella.”

This didn’t help, as she saw the wand arm stiffen, but Lily took a chance and reached out.

“It’s okay, Harry. Calm down, baby.”

Her hand covered his hand and gently pushed it down. Once it was down, she kissed his forehead.

“Put your wand away, sweetheart and I’ll tell you what you need to know. This is not how to greet someone who means you no harm.”

Slowly, he dropped his hand and put the wand away and so did Hermione. Lily hugged her son to her and let out a slow breath while Tom sagged against the door frame.

“Maybe I should go and…”

Lily shook her head.

“Nonsense, Tom. Sit down on the couch and I’ll tell you what’s going on in a moment. Nothing’s going to happen.”

He sat down as Hermione warily crossed the room to the opposite side. She saw the shake in his hand as he sat the wine bottle down on the low table. Lily conjured a chair and made Harry sit down. She watched as Hermione came over to massage his shoulders.

“Tom, there’s been… strange things going on.”

“You don’t say. What the hell, Lily?”

“Well, this is going to sound strange but… this is not my Harry.” She rested her hand on Harry’s head and ran her fingers through the messy hair. This helped relaxed him.

“What? It looks like him. A dangerously powerful Harry, too. What’s going on?”

Tom looked up at Hermione and continued.

“And Hermione, too. You don’t seem to be the same either.”

Lily nodded.

“Tom, do you remember that light show in the Great Hall a few days ago?”

“The one that knocked Harry for a loop? I’ve been wondering what happened, since neither Harry or Hermione have been in my classes.”

“Yes, that one. That was no light show. It was a dimensional rift that was focused on Harry Potter. By who, we don’t know for sure.”

Harry muttered something that sounded like “the Ferret did it,” but Lily wasn’t sure. Hermione must have heard what he said because her lips went even tighter and the fire in her eyes was suddenly brighter. Noting this reaction, Professor Riddle shuddered. Whoever this ‘Ferret’ was, he or she was in for it when Harry caught up with them.

“Okay, Lily, but what happened?”

“As near as we can tell, Tom, my Harry and this Harry traded places, along with their Hermione versions. We’re trying to find a way to fix that, but it’s taking time. Meanwhile I’ve taken them in.”

Silence reigned as the Transfiguration professor took a moment to absorb that. The shock was clear on his face and it took another moment before he noticed that Harry was looking up at him. Their eyes met and Tom was very surprised to see that the eye color was wrong. It wasn’t the hazel eyes that he remembered from all these years of watching the young man grow up. And wait, where did that scar come from?

The eyes, the scar, and the world-weary way the young man was carrying himself made his mind up for the older man. He addressed Harry in a voice that wasn’t his normal jocular self.

“Um, Harry? I can accept that, since Lily’s never lied to me before and I trust her implicitly.”

The eyes didn’t change their gaze from his face and Tom was sure that they were probing his very soul. He continued, feeling very unnerved.

“And um, however I can help you and Hermione to get home, I will.”

The stony visage shifted just a little, aided by the shoulder rub the young woman was giving him. The older man wasn’t fooled. She was just as dangerous as he was. Tom looked up at her, whispering in his ear. After a moment, he revised that thought. She was more dangerous.

The silence was getting oppressive, so he took a deep breath and gathered himself. He leaned forward and extended his hand.

“Tom Riddle, Transfiguration Professor for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Gryffindor, Class of 1945.”

This was a surprise to both of the young people. Their eyes met and after a quick moment, Harry leaned forward to take the hand.

“Harry Potter. Gryffindor, sixth year.”

Hermione leaned over to take the older man’s hand too.

“Hermione Granger. Gryffindor, sixth year.”

  
  


|---====OOOOO====---|

  
  


Harry knew there was a Quidditch game happening, but this was the first time that he wasn’t allowed to go. Due to the dimensional skipping, he and Hermione had to stay here. It was starting to wear on him to be honest, but at least the charmed window Professor Riddle put up helped. It let him watch the Quidditch game and if he squinted and turned his head just right, it was almost like watching a televised match. The older man claimed it was better than sitting in the stands on a cold day at his age.

Well, maybe. It just wasn’t the same, but it helped. It let him take his mind off recent revelations.

It was Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor today. Harry could see that some things didn’t seem to change since the lions were playing a pretty clean game. He wondered if the snakes played as dirty as he remembered. The badgers were playing rougher than he’d thought he would have ever seen the yellow-and-black play Quidditch. It made for a pretty interesting game. The announcer was drunk, he was sure. Whoever it was sure sounded like it.

“And Diggory is definitely looking for something. Who knows what since he’s been flying ‘round in circles. Whoever it is that’s got the Quaffle is throwing it back to somebody else, I can’t see who it is. Everyone’s flying around too fast.”

“Smith! Are you drunk?”

Professor Sprout sounded outraged and Harry grinned.

“No, Professor. Would you like a drink? Anyway, somebody that isn’t Diggory is slapping those ugly-looking Bludgers away from him. That’s a good thing. I think it’d hurt to be hit by those things. Whoever thought that would be a good idea?”

“Smith!”

“Sorry, Professor, but it’s the truth. Somebody in red, I think it’s Parkinson just scored. That’s 80-30 Gryffindor. Hufflepuff needs to get the broomstick out of their…”

“SMITH!”

“What? It’s the truth!”

Harry laughed as Lily came in.

“What’s so funny, Harry?”

He motioned to the charmed window.

“Listen to the commentary for a moment.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I’ve heard about it. That boy’s going to be in so much trouble when Poppy gets her hands on him. He sounds like he’s drunk again. She’s already had her hooks into him for that and she wasn’t happy about it last time.”

“Oh?”

“She threatened some very creative things. I didn’t know she had it in her, but she’s fed up. Especially since he didn’t believe her and blew her off.”

Harry shook his head at the thought. If anyone knew what the mediwitch was capable of doing, it was him. He grimaced.

“Oh, that’s not going to be good.”

Lily laughed at his expression.

“Considering you have a personal bed in the hospital wing, you should know.”

“I was just thinking that.”

Another squawk of indignation drew their attention to the charmed window, but neither knew what it had been this time. Lily sighed and waved her wand at the door. Harry watched as a silvery doe cantered off somewhere.

“Patronus message?”

She put her wand away.

“Yes. I thought I might as well warn Poppy.”

There was a snort from the other side of the room. Harry looked at the Transfiguration professor, who was filling wine glasses. After the tense moments of earlier, they all figured that it was a good idea to sample the wine early. Besides, he had another bottle he could bring later.

“I feel bad for that young man. Poppy will tear him apart, put him back together and then tear him apart again.”

Lily snorted but didn’t comment further. Harry had turned his attention back to the Quidditch game, where he saw the Hufflepuff seeker go into a dive. With a shock, he saw that it was none other than Cedric Diggory.

“Hermione! Look!”

The young woman looked at his cry and gasped.

“Cedric! He’s alive!”

Lily and Tom jerked their heads from what they were talking about to stare at the faces of the younger pair. Their faces were as pale as either had ever seen and their gazes were riveted to the image of the Hufflepuff seeker as he caught the Snitch to end the game. The ending to the game wasn’t noticed apparently, but the presence of the other boy was.

“Why is he here, Harry? Cedric would have graduated before us if he’d lived.”

“I don’t know, Hermione. There’s yet another change to look into.”

Lily traded glances with Tom. What was going on with Cedric? She spoke, her voice tentative.

“Harry? What’s going on?”

He turned his head, tears in his eyes.

“Mum, it’s one of the thing that I had to deal with when Vo…” he flicked a glance at Tom, who had no clue what was going on.

“Harry?”

“...when the big bad at home resurrected himself. Cedric was murdered during the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard tournament. I was the fourth Champion, forced to compete on pain of losing my magic.”

Lily gasped.

“Fourth Champion? In a competition that requires just three?”

“Yes, mum. It was a trap to catch me. The whole thing.”

Tom’s eyes widened. A flash of intuition had just stabbed him square in the forehead.

“Oh, no. Harry, I think you need to tell me who my counterpart is in your reality and I think I’m not going to like it at all.”

He sat down at the table. The chair complained, so heavily had he flopped down.

The charmed window was forgotten as Harry slowly walked over to the table. Hermione followed him, hand in hand. Lily noticed that she was holding his wand hand, but Harry hadn’t noticed it yet. They eased into the chairs side by side and Lily decided to remain standing. She looked at the younger man.

“Harry, would it be a good idea to get Sev here, too?”

He considered it.

“Yes, mum, I think you need to. No classes on the weekends anyway.”

“He should be here soon anyway, but if you think I should…”

Harry looked into her eyes.

“You know, I can’t let you have all the fun with Patronuses.”

“What?”

He pulled his hand free from Hermione’s grip and pulled his wand out. Harry waved it at the door.

“ _Expecto Patronum.”_

The huge stag burst out of the end of his wand. Lily gasped at the sight of Prongs and her eyes watered. Harry spoke to the stag.

“Go to Sev. Sev, I need you to come by the rooms. I have more to reveal to you and Mum. Don’t rush but don’t dawdle either.”

The stag bowed to him but before it left, it looked at Lily. It stepped over to her and nuzzled her. Everyone in the room could see her hair move as if the stag was breathing on her as she hugged the stag’s neck. It moved back and licked the tears from her cheeks and nuzzled her again before it turned to leave.

When the stag left the room, Tom stared at Harry in shock. Lily was still watching where the stag had trotted out at its most majestic.

“That was the most solid Patronus I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you. I first cast it at thirteen years old to fight off Dementors.”

Lily turned, shocked.

“Dementors? Where?”

Hermione answered her.

“In our third year, the Ministry stationed Dementors at Hogwarts to try to catch Sirius Black. He had escaped from Azkaban, where he’d been incarcerated.”

“What?”

“Without a trial, too.”

“What?!”

Harry looked up at her.

“Tell you later. When Sev gets here.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when a large Horned Owl Patronus soared in and settled on the table. The owl stared at Harry with all the disdain a real owl could have gathered, and Lily grinned. It spoke in Sev’s voice.

“I will be there in a short while, Harry. Thank you for the message, but now I need a clean set of robes for Minerva. She is not happy with you since your Patronus startled me and two others into coating her with Butterbeer, some popcorn, and what looks like caramel. We haven’t seen that stag since James passed. I hope you have a plan to avoid payback. She’s coming with me.”

The owl ruffled his feathers and gave Harry another piercing glare. It faded away without fanfare.

“Uh-oh. You’re in trouble,” Hermione laughed. The other two were trying unsuccessfully to hide their grins at Harry’s wide eyes.

Harry knew it, too. He didn’t know what he was going to do.


End file.
